


Making Soft Sounds

by UntenableFutureGoals



Series: Darcy the Pretend Alpha [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Background Jane Foster/Thor, Dissociation, Established Jane Foster/Thor, F/F, Fivesome - F/F/F/F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Foursome - F/F/F/F, Happy Ending, I mean just look at all these ships, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Minor Clint Barton/Phil Coulson, Minor Jane Foster/Thor, Multi, Omega Verse, Panic Attacks, Polyamorous Pack, Polyamory, Scent Marking, Threesome - F/F/F, Threesome - M/M/M, but mostly this is fluffy I swear, errbody get in here, eventual clint barton/phil coulson - Freeform, super gay, wow that's a lot of ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-03-19 20:59:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 79,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18978253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UntenableFutureGoals/pseuds/UntenableFutureGoals
Summary: "Is this what you're looking for?" he asked, carefully and slowly reaching one hand down into his pocket to withdraw something small—Darcy's ipod.Darcy stepped forward to take it from him, and then her instincts took over with the increased proximity to the mate-scent, unable to resist sniffing the man intently where he stood hunched against the wall. She rose up on her toes a little so she could get a good sniff at the crook of his shoulders where his scent glands were, just to confirm that he wasn't the source. "It's not you," Darcy said, mostly to herself, and stepped a half pace back, putting her ipod into her own pocket.The man against the wall, against all expectation, burst into a wide smile, seeming irrationally pleased about something. Before Darcy could do more than raise her eyebrows, he held out his hand to introduce himself."I'm Clint," he said with a smile, "and I think we're going to get on just fine."====Darcy Lewis finds her mates, but she's not sure if she can (or should) keep them.





	1. Natasha thinks about it

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Once Upon a Time...](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6244240) by [Silent_journey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silent_journey/pseuds/Silent_journey). 



> I really liked the idea of this other work, but I just really needed more gay. Like lots and lots of gay. I mean we're talking a LOT. And more poly. And then some more gay. YAY GAY! :D
> 
> Also FYI, this fic is going to be long (mostly because there are a lot of new characters/mates that keep coming in). In its current state it's 70,000+ words, give or take subsequent edits. So be ready for a long ride, although considering that it only took me about two weeks to post up my other fic at currently 26,000 words, it probably won't take all that long time-wise to get this fic posted up.

It all started when she met Clint.

Darcy Lewis met Clint after the jack-booted government thugs showed up after New Mexico, interrogating everyone, making a mess of things, and stealing her ipod. Darcy was in the middle of an argument with one of the underlings at their oh-so-secret base (which had only taken all of a couple hours for Darcy to find) trying to find out who she needed to talk to to get her stuff back, when she noticed a man who looked unaccountably smug leaning against the wall, watching while she chewed out Mr. Generic Agent.

Darcy didn't spare much attention for the smug guy other than to give him a glare, because she thought she'd found a crack in this agent's logic. She pushed her point harder with Mr. Generic, arguing about how personal property had gotten caught up in the seizure when _clearly_ they had been only tasked with confiscating scientific equipment and data. Then she glanced up and found the smug guy was somehow looking even _more_ smug than before, and had moved closer to where Darcy was arguing with the agent, smirking against the wall with one hand in the pocket of his leather jacket.

Finally, the smirking got to her, and Darcy spun around to address him, stalking up to him with one finger pointing at him accusingly. "Don't even with me—I will rake you over the coals like Generic Agent 5000 here," she said in a low, angry voice, gesturing backwards over her shoulder at the agent.

The smirking man held up both his hands palms outward in a gesture of surrender.

Sounding exceedingly miffed, behind her Generic Agent protested, "It's Agent Trentson."

Glancing back over her shoulder, Darcy could see that Generic Agent—the man would now forever be known that way in Darcy's head—when he wasn't looking at Darcy in irritation, was looking at the new guy with a mixture of hope and relief, like the smug guy could somehow bail Generic out. Darcy narrowed her eyes at the smirking guy and stepped closer to him, starting to get into his personal space.

"Are _you_ who I need to talk to to get my stuff back?" she demanded. And then the smirking guy's scent hit her nose, and Darcy went still. Something smelled incredibly sweet and alluring and she inhaled deeply. It wasn't _his_ scent, this smirking guy's, that smelled good—or well, the man's scent was fine, but it wasn't _wow holy shit_ like this other scent—but he had been around someone who smelled to Darcy like a potential mate. She wanted to know that scent, and Darcy's nostrils flared, leaning her head slightly forward and sniffing the air diligently.

Darcy said suspiciously, voice dropping a register and taking on a little quality of growl, "Who are you?" She stood with the self-confidence of an alpha, and her scent was that of a ticked-off alpha—of course, Darcy _wasn't_ an alpha, she was masking her scent and all her behaviors were learned, but these two thugs didn't know that—so when she started growling, the smirking man in the leather jacket lost his smirk and made himself a little smaller against the wall, his hands still held up in surrender.

"Is this what you're looking for?" he asked, carefully and slowly reaching one hand down into his pocket to withdraw something small—Darcy's ipod.

Darcy stepped forward to take it from him, and then her instincts took over with the increased proximity to the mate-scent, unable to resist sniffing the man intently where he stood hunched against the wall. She rose up on her toes a little so she could get a good sniff at the crook of his shoulders where his scent glands were, just to confirm that he wasn't the source. "It's not you," Darcy said, mostly to herself, and stepped a half pace back, putting her ipod into her own pocket.

The man against the wall, against all expectation, burst into a wide smile, seeming irrationally pleased about something. Before Darcy could do more than raise her eyebrows, he held out his hand to introduce himself.

"I'm Clint," he said with a smile, "and I think we're going to get on just fine."

====

Surprisingly enough to Darcy—or maybe not, seeing how cocky Clint had been when they'd first met—he and Darcy ended up getting on like a house on fire. Darcy's sarcastic quips and habit of speaking without filters meshed perfectly with Clint's dry, unexpectedly blunt humor and penchant for mischief. Within the span of a couple weeks, they were fast friends, and although Darcy had heard about the idea of platonic soulmates, she'd never met anyone that fit the bill as seamlessly as Clint did. And if Clint knew someone who smelled like a mate to Darcy well enough that Clint's clothes had smelled like it when they'd first met, then that just meant that it was more likely that he and Darcy would get along smashingly if he was that good of friends with a potential mate.

At first, Clint evaded Darcy's attempts to find out more information about this potential mate, but of course that only made Darcy more determined. That was what originally made Darcy try to hang out with him so much, so she could fish for information on this mystery mate. Then Darcy found out that she and Clint meshed so well together and that gave her another reason to stick around the beta man. Now, after weeks hanging out together, Darcy was no less determined to find out about this potential mate, but she could be patient. Direct questioning wouldn't work, as Clint had proven time and time again that he was very skilled at distracting and evading, so instead she plied Clint for information on other topics, trying to get him to drop hints.

And Clint _did_ drop some hints, but they were just teases, intentionally left like treats to keep Darcy interested. Not that Darcy needed any excuse to keep interested in Clint anymore. No, she thoroughly enjoyed his company—at least when she wasn't feeling frustrated or annoyed with him, although Darcy had to admit that that could also just be his Clint-ness shining through.

Honestly, Darcy knew that she shouldn't be getting involved with potential mates at all—what with Darcy hiding her omega status behind her carefully cultivated alpha persona—but since the mate was still a hypothetical, Darcy found it hard to feel that anxious about it. This mystery person was just an abstract concept, as she'd never met them or even knew their name. She rationalized that she could always back off later, once she'd learned more, but for now, Darcy had no compelling reason to curb her curiosity—and Darcy's curiosity was a powerful thing.

====

Clint knew Natasha was coming back today, so he made sure to get back to the Avengers Tower and be sitting in one of his perches near the quinjet landing deck when he got word that they were on their way. He was prepared to wait all day, but it didn't actually take that long for the jet to come in once he was settled. Clint hopped down to the walkway below as soon as the ramp lowered from the quinjet.

A few agents disembarked from the craft, looking tired and worn, some of them nodding to Clint amicably in passing as they went to check in, but Clint waited until a certain shade of red hair finally appeared in the doorway at the top of the ramp. He knew Natasha already had marked him even though she didn't look up, and Clint simply fell in beside her as she walked by to head inside the tower.

"How was the weather in Provost?" he asked gamely after they'd turned down a couple corners.

Natasha snorted and said nothing, but it wasn't an uncomfortable nothing. They'd spent enough time in each other's company that they respected each other's silence. Clint could tell that Natasha was worn out, and probably hungry, and she usually didn't mince words when she was like that. They had been assigned rooms off the same common area, so they simply walked back to their shared living space. Clint had made some lasagna the other night, so he pulled it out of the fridge, and at Nat's nod he cut out a slice and put it in the microwave to heat up.

Natasha went straight into her room and began removing gear, hands going through the motions mechanically but swiftly—the process so routine that she could do this all half-dead, which honestly sometimes happened in her line of work. Her eyes fell immediately on her bed on entering, where Clint had lazily thrown his jacket onto her bed. Natasha narrowed her eyes at the jacket, knowing that the archer always had reasons for doing what he did, so he must have left it there on purpose.

She had half a mind to just ignore it and let it sit there till later, but then Natasha realized that it would be better to take care of it now, while Clint was still close enough for her to strangle if she so chose. The former assassin took a couple measured but swift strides to the edge of the bed, and picked the jacket up, eyes already drawn to all the pockets and inner lining to see what was different or special about it, when the scent of something both sweet and spicy and distinctly alpha hit Natasha's nose.

Completely without her conscious decision, Natasha's hands brought the jacket up to her nose and she inhaled deeply. _Mate scent_. Clint's scent was all over the jacket, of course, and she'd long known that Clint wasn't a potential mate, but Clint must have been in close physical contact with this person—someone who was Natasha's potential mate—to have their scent on his jacket. The Russian woman took another deep inhale of the scent, and then forced herself to put the jacket down for a moment so she could finish removing her gear. Once done, she grabbed the jacket, sneaking in one more sniff before she left the bedroom, and headed back out to their shared kitchen, where Clint was nonchalantly setting out plates and utensils—but Natasha could read the amusement from the set of his shoulders, could tell from the way he moved that he was pleased about something.

Natasha sat down at the central island without saying a single word and just stared at him, tucking the jacket into her lap. She knew it would be useless to try and question him, but Natasha also knew that when Clint was sitting on something good that he usually couldn't wait to share it, so it wouldn't be that long before whatever it was bubbled up to the surface.

Even with that expectation, Clint surprised her by saying only a few moments later, without looking up from checking the lasagna in the microwave, "Her name is Darcy."

Natasha raised her eyebrows.

"And she's adorable."

Natasha frowned. A potential mate for her was adorable? Natasha, the slightly reformed assassin and spy, had an 'adorable' potential mate? That couldn't be right, from Natasha's perspective—Clint must be just playing with her.

"Clint," she started to say, but the archer continued without waiting.

"And I know you're going to think that someone who could be described as 'adorable' couldn't possibly be a potential mate for you, that there must be some mistake—but she was all over my jacket the first time I met her, which was the day you left on this mission," he said persuasively, plating up the lasagna. "And she swears like a sailor, and has the ability to put her foot in her mouth faster than anybody I've ever met, but trust me—you'll really like her."

"Hmm," Natasha hummed, sounding unconvinced.

Clint set the plates on the counter and gave her a piercing look, leaning against the tiled surface of the island with his hands. "But she's mate scent, isn't she," he said, not asking. He lifted an eyebrow. "Go on, give it a sniff."

Natasha had been refraining from lifting the jacket up to her nose only by sheer force of will, and at the reminder Natasha glared at the archer, who simply waved a hand at her impatiently. Natasha huffed, then acquiesced and lifted the jacket to her face again, inhaling. Natasha had been of at least half a mind to protest Clint's assertion, but the warm frisson that passed through her body at the scent on his jacket was certainly undeniable.

"But that doesn't mean we'll be a match personality-wise," Natasha answered smoothly, as if she had been an active participant in the conversation up to this point and was adding yet another counter argument.

Clint gave her a one-handed shrug as he sat down and grabbed his fork. "And that's why I did some serious reconnaissance for you to find out how well you'd match with her—and considering that I know you pretty well and have had a decent chance to get to know her, I can tell you two will definitely work well together. Trust me, it'll be a good thing."

Natasha hummed again, taking a bite of lasagna. "I'll think about it," she said flatly.

Clint, the smug asshole archer that he was, didn't say anything as he kept eating or change his expression, but his eyes were sparkling in mirth.


	2. Is that Clint's jacket?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: Clint's right, you are adorable

Darcy hadn't gotten to see much of Clint lately. He'd been getting called out on missions, and Darcy missed having him around. She went back to messing around with Jane instead, which probably was good for both of them, since the two women hadn't been spending as much time with each other recently. Darcy couldn't help feeling bothered by something though, like there was an itch on the back of her shoulder that she couldn't quite reach, or like knowing that there was something she was forgetting but couldn't figure out what it was.

Then, after days with scant contact over text messages, Clint went entirely radio silent. Darcy was panicking, and she started making plans to come camp out at the super-secret-but-definitely-not-SHIELD base until they talked to her and told her where Clint was. Jane was completely unable to help reassure her or calm her down and Darcy was going out of her mind with worry, so Jane agreed to loan her the truck so Darcy could ride up to SHIELD headquarters. Agent Generic—Trevor? Travis?—was again standing out in front, and Darcy didn't even bother to turn the engine off after she drove the truck right up onto the curb in front of the base and hopped out.

" _Where is he_?" Darcy said in her best intimidating alpha do-not-get-between-me-and-my-mate voice she could. She knew she sounded like the worst stereotype of a mate-crazed alpha, but that had basically been Darcy's entire plan on how to get in to see what had happened to Clint. She realized she wasn't exactly thinking clearly, but that had been the best plan she could come up with on short notice. " _Where is Clint_?"

It seemed to do the trick with Agent Generic. The man looked about ready to shit his pants, and had already hunched down slightly so he could keep his head below hers. But before he could open his mouth to answer, another voice spoke up.

"He's in quarantine." It was a feminine voice, one that immediately made Darcy's inner omega sit up and pay attention.

Darcy turned to see a woman wearing a black jacket—a very familiar-looking black jacket, Darcy thought, eyes narrowing—coming out of a side door of the SHIELD building that Darcy hadn't noticed before. The woman was objectively beautiful—no, she was downright hot. Even her voice was hot. Shaking her head, Darcy collected herself from her stupor over the woman's beauty to respond, "What do you mean, quarantine? Why are you wearing his jacket? What happened to him? _Is he okay_?" Darcy stepped closer to the woman as she spoke.

The woman in the jacket seemed to tense at the last question, like she was suppressing some kind of movement, but by then Darcy was close enough that she caught the woman's scent, and all coherent thought in Darcy's brain fled.

Darcy suddenly found herself aware of everything about the woman in front of her, down to the tiniest detail, while at the same time losing all awareness of what her own body was doing. The woman's long lashes, the slight flush creeping onto her cheeks that Darcy hadn't been paying enough attention to catch before, the barely noticeable movement of her chest with each breath. Darcy was riveted. Without realizing she'd moved, Darcy found herself closer to the beta—she could tell this woman was a beta, a delicious _mate-scent_ beta—and inhaled, nostrils flaring. The woman retreated slightly so Darcy instinctively stopped, simply standing there sniffing the air.

After a few moments of hesitance, the woman leaned forward ever-so-slightly and inhaled, obviously trying to catch Darcy's scent, and Darcy's body involuntarily surged forward a half-step. The beta responded with a quiet almost imperceptible sound like a soft gasp and tilted her head just a touch to the side, baring her neck a little. The display turned Darcy on incredibly, but she managed to take hold of herself again, and stepped back a touch from the woman, her potential mate, to give her some space. Darcy had already been acting far more aggressively than she wanted to be towards someone with mate-scent.

Eventually, after a couple more sniffs towards Darcy—this time Darcy controlled herself so she didn't surge forward and scare her mate again—the woman said, "We should move your truck before you get ticketed or towed."

Darcy nodded—the 'we' in that sentence sounded inclusive and made Darcy hopeful—and followed when the woman, who introduced herself as Natasha, walked over to the truck. Without thinking about it, Darcy automatically opened the door and held it out for Natasha once they reached it. The most-probably-secret-agent gave Darcy a look that didn't seem displeased, although it was a little hard to read, and hopped in the truck without comment.

Once they were in the truck and moving, Darcy started driving on autopilot back to the lab when she realized she didn't know where they were going. On asking if Natasha wanted to go to a diner or coffee shop or something, the quiet woman said that she'd rather someplace more private. Darcy shuddered—she didn't even know if it was a good shudder or a bad shudder, it was just anticipation of being in a quiet place with her potential mate.

Luckily, Darcy's mouth worked mostly by itself, so even though her brain was mostly frozen she didn't leave any awkward silence. She opened her mouth and said, "Ok, the lab it is, but I have to warn you first—there may be scientists running around without any pants on, but typically they all stay in the lab itself so we should have the rest of the building to ourselves for the most part."

Natasha raised both eyebrows, which from Darcy's very limited experience seemed like rather a large show of emotion from her.

Lifting both hands off the steering wheel in surrender for a brief second before putting them back down, Darcy said, "Hey, don't look at me—I'm just the intern who's supposed to give them coffee and take notes, and I do _not_ remember it saying anywhere in my contract that I had to coax grown men to wear clothes." They drove for a few moments in silence. "I mean, at first I tried to get Erik to wear pants but I just ...," she said, shrugging expressively, "there's only so much you can do, you know?"

Natasha didn't say anything, but when Darcy glanced over, the probably-super-agent looked like she was trying not to laugh with an incredulous expression on her face.

Deciding that talking about work wasn't as important as finding Clint, Darcy switched topics, trying to pick Natasha's brain for any tidbit of information about him. Apparently the archer had been involved in the attack on New York and had gotten mind controlled, and Darcy was only able to calm down when Natasha assured her that Clint was okay, that Natasha had seen him with her own eyes. He just had to be stuck in observation until they could be sure that there wouldn't be any resurgence of the mind control.

Once that was done and Darcy had been convinced of Clint's wellbeing, the intern started proposing possible methods to break Clint out of quarantine or at least sneak some things in to him, which seemed to amuse Natasha to no end—especially the one about Darcy trying to infiltrate SHIELD while in disguise. Natasha never actually said that any of Darcy's ideas were ridiculous, which the intern appreciated even as she knew that said ideas were in fact ridiculous.

The conversation flowed so smoothly after that—even if Darcy was doing most of the talking, because come on, this was _Darcy_ —that she hardly paused when they reached the lab and walked into the main building. Surprising the intern, Jane was sitting in the main room and stood up as soon as the two other women walked in—which then reminded Darcy of the sheer panicked state she'd been in just a short time ago when she'd left. _O_ _f course_ Jane would be waiting to hear what happened.

Between one word and the next of Darcy's current master plan to break in to save Clint, Darcy smoothly inserted the introductions. "... and we could probably use one of the jets, you guys have jets right? Oh Jane, this is Natasha, Natasha this is my boss and good friend Jane." The two women shook hands, making the appropriate polite greetings.

"Is that Clint's jacket?" Jane asked, eyeing Natasha's black leather jacket.

"Yes," said Darcy, but before she could say much else, she was surprised by Natasha then picking up the explanation.

"Clint was amused by the idea of having me borrow it, so I did," she said, in that evenly calm way the probably-also-a-spy did almost everything.

Darcy then proceeded to inform Jane about Clint's status and some of Darcy's plans to break him out, which Jane responded to with a raised eyebrow expression that was eerily similar to the one Natasha had just given her about the same subject. Darcy threw up her hands. "Bah! Fine, I can tell when my superior planning skills are unappreciated," she said with a faux-pout.

Jane shook her head in amused exasperation. "There's pizza in the kitchen, you should probably eat and then go to bed unless you want to stay up all night worrying."

Just then Darcy's stomach betrayed her by grumbling loudly, and she trudged into the kitchen behind Natasha, who maybe unsurprisingly seemed to have an excellent sense of where things were inside the building even though the most-certainly-a-spy had never been here before. After Darcy had sat down and eaten a few slices, all the energy she'd been expending to worry about Clint caught up to her, and she found herself almost nodding off between bites.

Staring at Darcy with a considering look, Natasha said, "Clint's right—you _are_ adorable."

"What??" Darcy spluttered and then she attempted to protest Clint's description of her, waking up fully, but Natasha didn't rise to the bait. The secret agent merely seemed amused at Darcy's objections and finished up her pizza in quiet with the barest hint of her lips turning upwards at the corners. When they'd both finished eating, Darcy asked Natasha if she needed a ride back, but the super-secret agent ignored the question and just proceeded to coax Darcy into getting ready for bed, telling the scientist-wrangling intern not to worry.

When Darcy was sitting down on the bed with Natasha pushing her gently back to lay down, Darcy grabbed Natasha's hands in hers and looked at the super agent seriously.

"I ... I'm not a ... normal alpha," she said haltingly once she had Natasha's attention, swallowing anxiously. She couldn't bring herself to say anything about her situation or actual status, but she felt bad about bringing this wonderful amazing beautiful woman into her life without warning Natasha about Darcy's own deficiencies. "I don't think I can be the alpha that you need."

All expression dropped off of Natasha's face, and she studied Darcy for a moment. "Maybe I don't want a normal alpha," she said firmly but neutrally, and Darcy couldn't get any read on the agent. Using Darcy's distraction, Natasha managed to get the pretend-alpha flat onto the bed. When Darcy opened her mouth to protest further, Natasha stopped her with a finger over her lips. "We can talk about it in the morning."

Darcy huffed in frustration, but only halfheartedly. She was already falling asleep just being horizontal, and after a few more moments of fighting it, Darcy gave in and quickly dropped off to sleep.

When she woke in the predawn hours the next morning, rather than finding that Natasha had left as the intern had been expecting, Darcy found a warm presence wrapped around her in the bed, and smelled her potential mate's scent all around her. Feeling instinctively happy and contented, and forgetting for a moment that she shouldn't feel that way, that feeling this calm and loved was dangerous, Darcy fell back asleep cuddling the arm that Natasha had draped over her.


	3. The amusement of Natasha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really thrilled with how this chapter turned out, but it at least moves the plot forward, so that's good?

The next morning brought a lot of questions and a very flustered Darcy, which amused Natasha to no end. There were a few times where Darcy tried to bring up the conversation from last night, about the intern not being 'a good enough alpha' for her, or some other pretty obvious attempt to deflect the beta. The former assassin simply restated her point that she didn't need a 'normal alpha' and that she could decide if the younger woman was enough for her, which amusingly enough made Darcy blush completely scarlet.

Natasha didn't know what it was about Darcy that might make her imply that she was somehow not alpha enough for the spy—the young alpha was very vague and the Black Widow wasn't digging for answers, the former assassin knowing personally about not wanting to dig into a potentially dark past—but Natasha felt that at some point they would have to talk about it. It wasn't a discussion for right now though, and the beta noted the way that Darcy tried to use this excuse to either put Natasha off entirely or at least use them as roadblocks to slow their growing relationship down.

It surprised Natasha though, because it spoke to some kind of lack of self-worth or self-confidence, when everything else about Darcy spoke of excessive ego and bravado. But Natasha understood that there were wounds that didn't show on the outside, and the former assassin sensed that something like that was probably at work here to. She made note of it in her mind to come back to later.

The Avenger spy had never met someone who smelled like a potential mate before—or at least, none that she knew about. While part of the Red Room Natasha had been given drugs that had kept her ability to scent a mate or attract one suppressed, but those drugs had long since left her system completely. Now that she'd met Darcy, the former assassin had a new respect for how well potential mates could mesh, because if Natasha were a normal beta—and Darcy were a normal alpha, because there was some reticence on her side as well—then the spy could tell she would have already been naked and in bed with this beautiful young woman because Natasha already couldn't get enough of her. Darcy was witty, bitingly sarcastic, and relatively fearless about what other people might think of what she said. Somehow at the same time the alpha was also sympathetic and caring and knew when to tone down the sarcasm, which was an interesting dichotomy that Natasha itched to explore more on an instinctual level.

Dr. Jane Foster found them after they'd moved on from the heavy topics and had ended up in the kitchen for breakfast, and Darcy's boss raised an eyebrow when she noticed Natasha was still there. The alpha blushed bright red and spluttered, but the Russian former assassin stepped in with the rescue.

"We're still waiting to hear when Clint's been released," she informed the doctor evenly and with a perfect poker face, taking another bite of cereal—it was that or leftover pizza or leftover Chinese food. The apparent college student diet of Darcy and the scientists worried Natasha slightly, but it was something else the spy pushed to the back of her mind for later.

When Dr. Foster simply turned her look on her intern, who gave her boss a shrug and slightly guilty smile, Jane said, "Alright, you're responsible if she decides to confiscate any more materials or data," and then strode out of the room back to her lab.

Darcy slumped in her chair in relief, and if the amusement that Natasha felt for her potential mate was visible on her face, well there wasn't anyone around but the intern to see it.

====

Clint was released a day later, and while suffering through the onslaught of Darcy (and even sometimes Natasha, though she would never admit it) fretting over him, he looked smug every time he glanced between the two of them—only looking more smug when the two women gave him equally unamused glances every time they noticed his grins.

From then on, Darcy was always in contact with either Clint or Natasha, either over the phone or messages or in person, dropping in on her at the lab compound, where she conveniently also had a room. Despite her attempts to keep her potential mate at arms length for safety, Darcy found that the former spy always managed to slip through the pretend-alpha's carefully constructed defenses. Even knowing that it would be better if she just cut all ties with Natasha in order to maintain her alpha cover, Darcy never could seem to bring herself to do it.

Every time a chance came up to try and pull back from the Avenger spy, like declining a request to hang out or go to a restaurant, Darcy couldn't seem to make herself do that, no matter how long of a pep talk she gave herself about it first. Jane didn't stay out of the loop for long, as the intern quickly blurted out her news that Natasha was one of Darcy's potential mates, much to her boss' excitement and happiness—Jane had found Thor not long ago, and although he was apparently from another world/dimension/something, they had hit it off really well. After that, Jane made it a point to invite Natasha along whenever she invited Darcy to do something, although Darcy insisted on including Clint each time, so even on "double dates" with Jane and Thor it wouldn't get too awkward if JT (as Darcy referred to them) were getting too lovey.

Natasha didn't seem to be that interested in cuddling or public displays of affection, which Darcy appreciated because it meant that there was less pressure on the intern. She later adjusted her understanding of what the Avenger wanted though, when Darcy found that Natasha responded very happily and enthusiastically to any physical contact, but only when Darcy initiated—and only as far as Darcy took that display of affection or contact. Darcy realized that Natasha probably was just following the younger woman's lead but actually really did like physical contact, which made Darcy feel simultaneously better and worse. She didn't want to keep her potential mate from getting the physical affection that she wanted, but she was glad that Natasha understood and cared about Darcy enough to not push when the intern wasn't comfortable.

====

After Jane got an offer to work in the UK and dragged everyone in the lab, including Darcy, along with her, there was less in-person contact between herself and the two Avengers. Darcy could tell that this increased distance was making her restless, but she also felt that maybe it would help her finally get up enough nerve to end things with Natasha—not that there _was_ anything to end, but the intern could feel the potential for more there. That potential terrified Darcy as much as it called to her, and since she hadn't been able to break herself free on her own, maybe the distance would do that for her.

The pretend-alpha wasn't really sure how she felt about this idea, but before she could do anything about it, everything went completely to hell just like in New Mexico, except with a different flavor of world-ending disaster this time. Darcy honestly thought she was going to die along with everyone else there, but when the dust settled and the world hadn't ended and Darcy hadn't died, beyond all expectation, Darcy couldn't help but laugh, scooping up Jane in a hug and then Thor too when he showed up, all of them surrounded by burning rubble.

Some hours later she was still feeling giddy with relief, when her phone started to ring. Darcy answered it without even looking to see who it was, surprised that it even still worked.

A familiar voice answered her. "Darcy! What the hell is going on? Are you okay?" Natasha asked, sounding anxious and intense.

"I am doing _great_ ," Darcy said, laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. In the back of her mind, Darcy wondered if she sounded drunk, or maybe drugged, but she was just enough exhausted and overwhelmed that she didn't really mind too much.

The silence over the line implied that she probably _did_ sound drunk. "Stay right there, we're coming," the spy said finally, voice firm.

"Okay," Darcy answered, still sounding giddy. She gave Natasha a rough account of where she was, but with the combination of relief and coming down from severe stress and panic, Darcy wasn't really sure of how coherent a description it was.

A couple hours later—and Darcy was impressed with the response time—Clint and Natasha strolled into the refugee center where all of them were being checked over by emergency triage doctors. Darcy was in the process of falling asleep in a chair, leaning against Jane, and the next thing she knew after staring at yet another nurse, she was being wrapped up in a blanket with a familiar but comforting scent.

Darcy opened her eyes at the motion and found the bright blue eyes of her potential mate. Darcy smiled hugely, saying, "Why hello there, beautiful." The intern couldn't stop smiling when this pulled an answering smile from Natasha, and this lasted the entire walk back to the quinjet, parked some distance away in a safe landing area. The pretend-alpha didn't remember much of the flight back—she fell instantly to sleep as soon as she was sitting down and leaning her head on her mate—but the next day she found that Jane had accepted a new location for the lab, Stark Tower. Or Avengers Tower, Darcy wasn't really sure which name she was supposed to use.

Dr. Foster's old lab had been almost entirely destroyed in the fighting in London, so they didn't really have that much stuff to move over and were basically starting from scratch, although the SHIELD pilot that had flown them said that she was at their disposal to fly them back to fetch anything else they needed. The only things Darcy wanted were the clothes and personal items she'd left in her apartment, so after making the request for her things Darcy didn't really participate in the negotiation about what things to go back and retrieve.

Darcy did find out though, that Stark tower was where both Clint and Natasha were stationed between missions, and she had a moment of terrified happiness when she realized she'd be living so close to her mate. That meant that she'd get the increased contact with her mate that her inner secret omega craved, but it also meant that her cover story as an alpha and real status would be that much more at risk of being uncovered. The pretend-alpha managed to last through the day until she could retire to her newly assigned room before Darcy had the panic attack which she'd felt building since hearing the news. Then she locked all the doors in her apartment and locked herself in the bathroom and stood in the shower under a hot spray until she calmed down. After she recovered, Darcy didn't feel like eating and just went straight to bed.

To the intern's surprise, it didn't end up being as difficult to live next to her mate as she thought it would be—which was honestly a little terrifying in itself, because that meant she was letting herself get too close to Natasha, too comfortable with her mate who much more likely to find out she wasn't really an alpha. The former assassin seemed to somehow sense that she shouldn't overwhelm Darcy though, and let the younger woman set the pace for their relationship the same way the spy had been doing with physical contact, which made the pretend-alpha feel much less nervous. Whereas before the entirety of their relationship could be seen as friends-who-smiled-at-each-other, Darcy found herself gradually allowing more physical contact, like regular hugs, or leaning on Natasha's shoulder during Avenger's movie night, or the times where the intern was energetically cleaning her apartment with her favorite dance playlist blasting and coaxed the Black Widow into an impromptu dance party with her when the spy stopped by to visit.

This increased contact made Darcy feel more relaxed and yet at the same time the worry in the back of her mind increased, knowing that this could and probably would all blow up in her face. Most of the time though, the intern successfully put it out of her mind and ignored it in true grad student fashion, and just went about her daily tasks of scientist-wrangling—she often called it 'cat herding', and pinned up lots of cat memes around the lab to this effect. Natasha, and likewise Clint, weren't actually in the tower all that regularly since they often got called out for missions. Despite her desire to keep her distance, Darcy found that she needed to know that her potential mate was okay and made the former Russian operative check in with her whenever Natasha left to go on a mission and when she came back. Now that they'd started sharing physical contact, Darcy always needed to give her mate a hug when the spy got back to the tower.

When Natasha was gone, often Clint would be around the tower, which helped Darcy control her anxiety about her mate not being around somewhat. The archer seemed to have a much better sense of whether or not the intern should be worried, which was fine—until they watched the helicarriers crash down into DC and even Clint seemed alarmed.


	4. I can't lose you, but I almost did

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: Maria makes a plan
> 
> NOTE: Significant divergence from canon, in that Hydra doesn't actually gain that much control of SHIELD, or at least not enough to essentially topple the organization like they do in the Avengers movie. Also, Fury doesn't get "killed" and it's more sort of business-as-usual except that Fury has to do top-to-bottom pest control to kick all the Hydra rats out.  
> ===

The news had reached Darcy about when her potential mate was supposed to come back to the tower after the helicarrier disasters, and she waited anxiously on the roof helipad for the quinjet to come in—apparently Natasha and Steve had enough clout to redirect a dropoff directly to Stark Tower. As soon as the redhead Avenger stepped off the ramp, Darcy practically flung herself at the smaller beta, wrapping Natasha in a hug after a quick scan for any visible wounds. Still in his Capsuit (as Darcy called it), Steve smiled at them warmly as he continued past them on his way back to his quarters.

====

"I'm all dirty right now, Darcy," the weary Avenger protested weakly, but her arms came up to cling to Darcy just as tightly, needing her alpha's arms around her as much as the younger intern seemed to need to hold Natasha.

"Good, cuz I'm dirty all the time," Darcy quipped back, although the tension in her voice belied the light words. The younger woman pulled back again and gave Natasha another look. "Are you injured at all? God, were you on that helicarrier when it went down?" She didn't give Natasha time to respond and just pulled her back into a tight hug. "I was so worried," the alpha said, voice strained.

"I'm fine, just tired and hungry," Natasha said, finally letting her voice show her exhaustion now that she was with her mate—she'd been hiding it the entire ride back, something that she pretty much always did, thanks to her Red Room and later spy training. She'd found it was easier to let go and be more open around Darcy, like her body and instincts knew that she was safe while around her mate and could relax her constant guard.

Natasha heard the pilot stepping off of the plane behind her and just as easy as breathing, the spy's mask automatically came up—this was instantly noticed by Darcy, who growled openly at the man until he backed up a couple paces. Then the taller alpha tucked Natasha under her arm and led her off to the elevator to go down to their floor. In the back of her mind, the former assassin noted the pilot's shock and attention to how Darcy was behaving around Natasha, and wondered how long it would take before word spread that Natasha had found a mate—the Russian agent knew that she had a reputation around SHIELD as being dangerous and unapproachable, if scarily competent, and wondered how the other agents would start treating her after this.

Right now though, that wasn't all that important to the spy, and she let herself get petted and fussed over by her alpha as Darcy took them both back to Natasha's apartment—hers and not Darcy's, the Russian noted. Since her mate had moved into the tower, the Black Widow had almost spent more time in the alpha's apartment or in the lab where Darcy worked than in Natasha's own assigned room. Usually she was the one seeking out the younger woman, mostly Natasha suspected because Darcy was still struggling with her personal self-worth issues and whether she deserved to have a mate like the redheaded Avenger, but the alpha would still make trips to come see her if it had been a while without Natasha coming to see Darcy.

Of course, now the beta was the one in need of comfort right now, so it made sense that Darcy would take them somewhere that she thought her mate would be more comfortable. As they walked, the alpha of course kept up her usual chatter, only occasionally looking for input from Natasha, which was fine for the Russian. The spy found the sound of her gregarious mate's voice soothing, but didn't want to feel compelled to contribute to the conversation.

"Are you hungry? You said you were hungry, right? Clint made some spaghetti and salad, but if you don't want that then just let me know and I'll order something—honestly, spaghetti makes such good leftovers and I really like packing it for lunch, so it's really up to you on what you want to do."

"Darcy," Natasha said, getting her mate's attention. "Spaghetti is fine—I like Clint's cooking."

That solved, Darcy proceeded to usher Natasha into the bathroom for a shower, after a brief exchange and greeting with Clint—the archer seemed amused to see the alpha hovering over Natasha, but the Russian didn't have the energy to do more than shoot the man a quick glare, which he answered with a jaunty salute as Darcy dragged her to the bathroom. The younger alpha checked Natasha over for injuries much more thoroughly once they were in the bathroom, and then started pulling off the beta woman's clothes for her. As much as Natasha enjoyed on a deep level the amount of care and physical touching Darcy was giving her, having her alpha mate undress her went beyond just enjoyment and was actually incredibly arousing, even if Natasha knew with certainty that Darcy wasn't interested in sex right now. The alpha was still checking Natasha for bruises and making disapproving noises or comments at each one she found, but that didn't stop Natasha's full blush.

Eventually Darcy noticed and chuckled, blushing as well. "I take it this means I probably can't join you in the shower and wash you?" the young intern asked with a sheepish grin.

Natasha eyed the other woman—her incredibly attractive, curvy and voluptuous mate—and said, "Hmmm, I would love that actually, but if you did then you'd definitely either need to get me off or I would need to get myself off, so maybe we should save it for another day?" Natasha would honestly love nothing more than for her mate to have sex with her, but she was pretty certain Darcy wasn't ready for it yet. Someday they'd probably get there, but even if they didn't Natasha was more than pleased with how far they'd come already, and she was determined to put as little pressure on Darcy in that respect as possible.

The young intern, for her part, blushed a brilliant red and nodded, letting Natasha get into the shower by herself, but everything else the attentive alpha wanted to help with, including getting her a fresh towel and comfy clothes to wear. When the spy stepped out of the shower, Darcy even took the towel from the Avenger to dry her off, making Natasha's blush come back even stronger this time, even if the younger woman was pretty clinical and non-sensual about it. The alpha also helped her put her clothes back on and then wrapped the spy in her arms to go out front and eat. Darcy wasn't happy until she had the tired Avenger sitting in her lap and the alpha spent most of the dinner feeding Natasha—not that the redheaded spy minded—and then the intern hurriedly ate her own food once the beta was done, just letting her mate curl up against her chest and relax.

Natasha dozed off for a while and didn't come to until Darcy started to get her up to go to bed. The alpha left her in the bathroom again to brush her teeth, and then came in wearing one of the spy's own sleep shirts and pajama pants. The beta spy hummed in contentment, then let herself be led to her bed and tucked in, thoroughly pleased and surprised when the alpha climbed into bed after her. It was the first time that Darcy had volunteered to sleep next to Natasha on purpose—there had been their first meeting where the SHIELD agent hadn't been able to resist crawling into bed behind her mate, or other times where either one of them had accidentally fallen asleep on their mate, but this was Darcy actively getting into bed with her, and the Avenger was thrilled. Of course, it was just to sleep, but even that was a big step for the alpha, and it made the spy extremely happy. Natasha quickly found herself drifting off to sleep with her mate's arms around her.

====

Darcy woke up the next morning still reeling from the worry about almost losing Natasha, and wanted to just cuddle in bed and hold her mate for a while. Neither of them had anywhere to be first thing, and the beta seemed pleased with it, in her reserved-spy-assassin sort of way. Once Natasha was fully awake, the attentive younger woman took her back out to the kitchen to feed her breakfast, and then generally tried to spend as much time as possible in physical contact with her.

Later that morning Natasha needed to go into SHIELD HQ to do her debrief, and the young intern insisted on waiting for her mate just outside of the conference room. It was the first time Darcy had been inside the SHIELD building, but she wasn't going to wait downstairs in the lobby or back at the tower. The pretend-alpha may not have wanted to stay with her mate when they'd first met, but almost losing Natasha made Darcy not want to be separated from the beta any more than she had to be now. After pacing outside in the hallway or leaning against the wall and fidgeting for what seemed like forever (but was probably more like a half hour), Darcy pounced on Natasha as soon as she was out of the conference room doors and held her close in a hug for a few moments, before they walked to the building exit with Darcy clinging to her arm.

====

Assistant Director Maria Hill was exhausted from all the agent debriefs she'd had to do since The Incident in DC, and had just finished her last one with Agent Romanov. She pushed herself up from the table, arching her back to stretch it out, before pulling all the papers together into her briefcase. Agent Natasha Romanov hadn't been injured, or at least not sufficiently enough to require any recovery time, but the former Russian assassin had been both undercover leading up to the incident and also involved in the final stages, so they'd had a lot to cover.

For some reason, Romanov had seemed different from their previous interactions, although Hill couldn't put her finger on exactly what had changed. Not that the assistant director had had a lot of interactions with Agent Romanov—mostly the times Hill had met her had been in large conference rooms like this one along with a dozen other people, and they hadn't directly spoken much before. Normally a different handler did Romanov's debriefs, but with all the loss of personnel after this Hydra debacle, SHIELD was reeling and extremely short-staffed, and even the assistant director had needed to help out.

Maria Hill sighed and picked up her folder, walking out of the room. On her way out, she passed by the chair where Romanov had been sitting, and a scent caught her attention. Maria stopped and sniffed the air, then leaned down to place her nose directly on the chair. _Mate-scent_. Well, that hadn't been something that Maria had guessed would happen today, but it seemed like Natasha Romanov was a potential mate for her. Hill wondered if that's why Romanov had seemed so stiff in their debrief or why she'd been so eager to get out of the room once they'd finished.

Maria knew Natasha Romanov's entire profile since she'd just reviewed it prior to the debrief, and from it Hill gleaned that the former Russian assassin was evasive and might not want to have a mate, so Hill knew that she'd probably need to take some time to plan out a meeting between them. Maria wasn't certain if she should wait and try to approach Romanov after a briefing again—although the result of this particular debrief suggested that it would probably not work, since the agent had left as soon as she could. Instead Hill decided to try the approach as a civilian. She knew Romanov was quartered at Stark Tower with the Avengers, and it wouldn't be too unusual for Maria Hill to interact with the Avengers, considering that they were all associated to SHIELD to some degree.

As Hill walked back to her office, she began to formulate a plan.


	5. Unexpected panic attack

Natasha was sitting in the main floor common area where all the Avengers usually congregated, waiting for Darcy to get off work. She may not necessarily always like socializing, but she did occasionally enjoy being in the presence of the other misfits that made up the Avengers team, and so she would often sit there reading when she wasn't in the gym or otherwise training or running missions. Natasha found it was an easy way to answer the question 'how are you doing' without even needing to enter into a conversation—she could just wait in the common room and when an Avenger walked in, she could tell from looking at them if they were okay or not.

Often she didn't even lift her eyes up from the page for that, although nearly everyone would offer her a verbal greeting of some kind, and then would usually respect her book and not engage her further. This was especially useful when the conversation could turn annoying very quickly, as it did when the Avenger in question was Tony Stark.

Natasha's phone made a soft sound, and the spy pulled it out to check. Darcy was complaining about Jane making them all stay late in the lab until they could get Dr. Foster's latest experiment to work, and had been messaging her for some time about it. It was amusing to Natasha just how much time Darcy spent messaging her, but Dr. Foster obviously must not mind if she kept dragging Darcy along with her from laboratory to laboratory. Natasha sent a quick reply back and then went back to her book.

The door to the common room opened again, and this time it wasn't an Avenger who walked in—it was Agent Maria Hill, Assistant Director of SHIELD. Natasha had never seen the woman in Stark Tower before and didn't know why Hill had decided to visit now. The spy made no obvious tells that she was observing the assistant director, and continued reading her book, thankful now that she'd picked something that didn't require a lot of attention to read.

The assistant director greeted the other Avengers who were in the room. Clint was in the kitchen attempting to prepare something for dinner, and Thor was helping him, looking like an amusingly misplaced Chip n' Dale dancer with his incredibly muscled arms and an apron that proclaimed him the world's best mom. When Natasha saw Hill notice what Thor was wearing and the earnest but slightly confused look on the Asgardian's face, Hill nearly started laughing but managed to turn it into a cough at the last moment.

Natasha was impressed and intrigued. That was the first time the former assassin had ever seen the assistant director show a non-serious emotion on her face—normally Hill had a poker face that rivaled Natasha's. Hill swallowed her laughs, but engaged the two men in the kitchen in a quiet conversation about what they were making, and Hill expressed a desire to know how it turned out. Clint in turn invited her to stay to dinner to find out, and Hill acquiesced. Natasha still hadn't been able to suss out what exactly the assistant director was here, and it was making her more determined to find out.

When the conversation hit a natural pause, Hill turned and walked over to the couch to greet Natasha. For her part, the spy greeted Hill the same way she'd been greeting all the Avengers who came into the room—a quick single-word hello without lifting her eyes from the page. Hill sat down on the couch next to her and seemed to study Natasha, perhaps waiting for something. Natasha almost snorted—the assistant director would need to wait a very long time if she wanted to out-do Natasha's patience.

Then the other woman's scent hit Natasha's nose and the spy's nostrils flared, picking up on the mate-scent. After hesitating for a moment, Natasha lowered her book and looked at the assistant director. Hill's nostrils were also flared, and she seemed to be sniffing the air around Natasha but very, very surreptitiously. Natasha doubted that anyone else in the room was even aware of it.

The idea then occurred to Natasha that Hill was probably also able to pick up Darcy's scent on her clothes, and suddenly Natasha was very glad that Darcy had been held up at the lab and wouldn't be down for some time. She didn't think it would be a good idea for Darcy to have a possible second mate nearby when the intern was already having trouble with just one mate. It wasn't even necessarily a given that any potential mate for Natasha would also smell like a mate to Darcy, but it was a very high probability and Natasha didn't exactly want to take more risks with her mate.

"I'm taken," Natasha said softly, voice not carrying much beyond where they were sitting on the couch.

"I see," Maria Hill said, leaning ever so slightly forward and inhaling slowly, before leaning back again.

"And she's definitely not ready for you," Natasha said, but with a sharper edge to it, like a warning.

Hill nodded, but didn't get up to leave or otherwise move. "Is it okay if I visit like this?"

Natasha tilted her head to study Maria Hill, this time looking at her as a person and an alpha, rather than just seeing Hill's job. Finally the spy turned back to her book, saying somewhat cryptically, "The common areas like this one are for visitors."

Maria made a noise that sounded like an acknowledgement, and then sat there next to Natasha for a little while longer, before standing up and going back to the kitchen to watch and offer commentary on the proceedings. Natasha kept an eye on the assistant director until dinner was made, and then Natasha bundled up some for herself and Darcy, knowing that the intern wouldn't want to come up to the common room and would instead prefer to 'chill' in their now shared apartment area after such a long workday. She also didn't want to risk Darcy running into Maria Hill.

Darcy hadn't officially moved in with Natasha, but since Clint was the only one sharing the common living space with Natasha and Darcy still liked spending time with him too, along with the fact that she hadn't wanted to let Natasha stay too far away from her since DC, the gregarious alpha had just ended up staying most nights in Natasha's room. Darcy had been assigned a room with Jane and Thor, but sometimes she didn't really want to stay in a room where only a wall and some empty space separated their rooms when Jane and Thor were feeling frisky—which according to Darcy was most of the time. Darcy had also taken to sometimes sleeping in Natasha's bed even when Natasha was out on missions and she and Clint had stayed up really late talking, but she didn't want to go all the way back to her room.

So now Natasha thought of her quarters as shared with Darcy, and it made the spy's inner beta purr in pleasure to think of it that way. She'd wanted to get closer to the hesitant alpha for a long time, but only recently had Darcy allowed Natasha to touch more. Mostly just platonic-type touching, but Natasha was nothing if not incredibly patient, and she was willing to wait as long as she had to for Darcy to be ready. In Natasha's mind, everything about Darcy was was worth the wait.

====

After things had settled back to a more normal state after DC—or as normal as it could be in a tower full of literal superheroes—Darcy found that she wasn't able to go back to the previous distance she had maintained between herself and Natasha. Darcy now wasn't able to rest well if she couldn't at least cuddle a little with her mate on the couch every night, and on the few nights since DC where Natasha had needed to be out on mission, Darcy had made do by snuggling into one of Natasha's pillows, eyes closed pretending like she was nuzzling into Natasha's neck. They hadn't even really done anything like that yet, but it at least made the lack of her mate's physical presence bearable.

One day when Natasha was out on a mission and Darcy was feeling antsy after work, she wandered up to the main common area, hoping that talking to the Avengers would keep her distracted till she could use the excuse of going to sleep to wrap herself in Natasha's bedding. Normally Darcy would avail herself of Jane or Clint, but Jane had some event with Thor today and wouldn't be back till tomorrow, and Clint was over at SHIELD headquarters for some kind of training exercise. Darcy found Steve and Bruce having a philosophical debate about the ethics of using super-serums, and the pretend-alpha dove right in—bloviating on hypothetical topics was practically what she'd majored in as a political science student.

It was working pretty well for a while, and Darcy only found herself missing Natasha maybe a third of the time—as opposed to 100% of the time like she was before—and the three had just taken a break from the discussion to order some food. The door to the common room opened, and a new person that Darcy hadn't met before but who looked vaguely familiar walked in. The new woman greeted both Steve and Bruce, and although Darcy was pretty sure the woman wasn't an Avenger, she couldn't place her either. The newcomer was attractive, but in a quietly powerful way, and Darcy guessed she was probably an alpha by her bearing.

While Steve and Bruce were on the phone ordering—Steve was still undecided on what types of pizza to get and Bruce was asking over the phone about each option—Darcy walked over to the new woman and held out her hand.

"Hi, I don't think we've met, but I'm Darcy," she said.

"Assistant Director Maria Hill," the woman said with a firm shake.

Then Darcy noticed the woman's scent—and _holy shit_ , this woman was a potential mate, but was an _alpha_. Darcy stiffened, still holding Maria's hand in hers.

It wasn't impossible that two alphas could have mate-scent with each other, but it wasn't incredibly common either, and it usually was only with alphas who were less aggressive or possessive. However, for Darcy, it raised the scary prospect that this alpha might be more easily able to tell that Darcy herself was not actually an alpha. Factually, Darcy knew that she smelled like an alpha, acted so stereotypically alpha that no one ever doubted her alpha status for a moment, and that mate-scent was a separate scent from the scent of one's status (alpha, beta, or omega) and so her being a mate shouldn't technically make it easier to find out her secret status. However Darcy couldn't help but be anxious—this woman knew exactly what alphas should be like since she was one, and the increased scrutiny that naturally came with the intimacy of a mate meant that seeing through Darcy's carefully maintained disguise was a real and present danger.

Standing here in front of Darcy now was the most terrifying possibility that her secret status would be found out, and the young intern couldn't help but start to sweat. She had been living a long time pretending to be an alpha and dealing with the resulting anxiety, and so she was able to control her panic for now, but she could tell that she would need to get away soon and get to a safe place where she could let her panic out—if she waited too long, she might get stuck panicking in a place that was _not_ safe.

Like in the Avengers' common room, in front of an alpha who was Darcy's potential mate.

Darcy numbly released Maria's hand once she realized she was still holding it. "Nice to meet you. I don't think I've seen you in the tower before," she said somewhat distantly.

"No, I don't come here that often, but I like to stop by every once in a while," Maria replied, and Darcy could see that the assistant director was scenting the air, though rather subtly, like she was trying to sniff out Darcy's scent.

Taking care to make it not seem like a retreat, Darcy nonetheless quickly stepped back towards Bruce and Steve in the kitchen, who were still arguing about pizzas. "I'm guessing you already met these two louts?" Darcy said, waving at the two men, using her joking tangent as a defense against the alpha next to her. Steve didn't reply in words but balled up a napkin and threw it at her one-handed. Darcy managed to laughingly bat it away, and used the evasive maneuver to put her on the other side of the island, which was further away from Maria.

Fortunately, Maria didn't follow her to the stools at the island, and Darcy hoped that the alpha hadn't picked up on the young scientist-wrangler's hidden internal panic or the fact that Darcy had immediately put lots of space between them just after being within scenting range of each other. The pretend-alpha's sweating was starting to make her clothes stick to her body uncomfortably, but she tried to keep the careful outer joviality that she'd used up to this point as a shield.

Maria joined in on the pizza conversation between the two men, and didn't seem to be paying that much attention to Darcy, and the younger woman could feel her threatening panic attack grow a little farther away, though it didn't entirely disappear. When it seemed like the assistant director had fully committed to helping Steve decide on which pizzas he wanted, Darcy pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent a quick message to Natasha.

Darcy: when d u get back

Natasha was supposed to get back some time that night, but it would be a lot better for Darcy if Natasha were back in time to help her with her impending panic attack. Darcy noticed that her hands were shaking slightly as she used her phone, and knew that was a really bad sign, so she pulled out her emergency tactic and sent a message to JARVIS asking him to call her phone. Darcy sat her phone down on the countertop, and turned her attention back to the pizza discussion like she was actually interested in its outcome.

Seconds later JARVIS pulled through and her phone started buzzing against the counter. Darcy scooped it up and frowned at the notification like it was important, then gestured to the phone as she said apologetically to the others, "Oh hey, sorry, I just gotta take this real quick."

Picking up the phone and answering, Darcy quickly stepped out of the room. As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, she started speed walking down the hall, looking around to make sure no one was nearby. Still with her phone to her ear just in case someone came up to her while she was walking, Darcy said, "Thank you for the call."

JARVIS said, through the phone, "You're welcome, Ms. Lewis."

After Darcy had traveled most of the way back to her room, panting and sweating visibly now, JARVIS hesitantly added, "If I may inquire, Ms. Lewis ...."

"No, sorry JARVIS. I need quiet now," she replied, cutting JARVIS off, her voice now showing signs of strain.

"Of course, Ms. Lewis."

Darcy had always liked chatting with JARVIS, and they had developed a sort of friendly bantering relationship, so when Darcy told JARVIS no, she was pretty sure he'd respect her wishes and not try to talk to her. It really wouldn't help when she was full on panicking and JARVIS just started randomly speaking—it would probably set her way back in her attempt to calm down.

Darcy reached the apartment that she shared with Jane and Thor and yanked open the door, locking it behind her as soon as she was through, knowing that she had it to herself for now so could safely barricade it. She then took the heavy planter that was just next to the door and wiggled it out further until it was blocking the door from opening—it's not like it would really stop Thor, but it would at least warn Jane that Darcy needed a minute. It wouldn't be the first time that Jane had seen Darcy in a panic attack. Then Darcy went into her room off the shared common area and closed and locked the door as well, and then went into the ensuite bathroom, grabbing an extra blanket on her way in. Closing and locking the bathroom door too, Darcy sank onto her knees on the thick bathroom mat, wrapping the blanket over her shoulders, and let the panic attack come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And no, people in real life usually don't have this much control over when a panic attack occurs. A more realistic Darcy would be someone who's really good at controlling their outward appearance while a meltdown is happening inside. I just ended up putting this milder take in the story to make it a little less OH FUCK I AM GOING TO DIE horrific.


	6. Mac and cheese, kittens, and recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All hail the neon-orange boxed mac 'n cheese, god of gods, savior of saviors, primary food source of poor college students.

JARVIS didn't exactly have a lot of exposure to the full range of human conditions and ailments. Sure, he was the AI for an entire building, and had people going in and out of the tower all day. However most of the time the people he looked after were a) fighting, b) injured and recovering, c) having boring normal days, and/or d) were superheroes and so couldn't exactly represent the general population well. There wasn't a lot that fell outside those categories.

So when Darcy Lewis unexpectedly ran back to her rooms and had a reaction that JARVIS had not recorded before, he started to search other databases and resources for information to find out what was happening. The young astrophysics intern had on a couple occasions appeared distressed or anxious, and had a few times locked all the doors as she had this time, but this was definitely more extreme than before. The results JARVIS found in his searches were worrying, so after a few picoseconds of deducing probabilities and considering, JARVIS made a call. He connected to the quinjet in flight that was carrying Agent Natasha Romanov back to base.

The agent did not have her earpiece in, so JARVIS said over the cabin speakers, "Agent Romanov, you have a call, if you don't mind."

The other agents in the cabin looked a little surprised, and Natasha raised her eyebrows slightly but didn't comment, simply lifting her earpiece to her ear.

"Agent Romanov, can you hear me clearly?" JARVIS asked for confirmation.

"Yes," Natasha responded, walking to the unoccupied back corner of the jet and sitting down with what JARVIS knew to be deceptive calm. His sensors were somewhat limited in the cockpit of the jet, but he had spent a lot of time studying Natasha—JARVIS studied all his residents, it was both part of his programming and he was curious—and knew her 'tells' well.

"I didn't want to disturb you, but there has been an unusual development at Stark Tower that I wanted you to be aware of. A development regarding Ms. Lewis."

Natasha's shoulders tightened almost imperceptibly. "Yes?" she prompted.

JARVIS quickly gave a summary of the events leading up to Darcy fleeing the common room and her current status, which was sobbing and gasping noisily on the floor of her bathroom.

Natasha's shoulder twitched very slightly. "And how long ago did this happen?"

"She fled the common room roughly five minutes ago, Agent Romanov."

"Thank you, sir—I'll take care of it immediately on arrival. If there's nothing else?" JARVIS estimated that Natasha was likely attempting to mislead anyone overhearing her side of the conversation by using the title 'sir', so the AI ignored it.

When JARVIS indicated there wasn't anything else, Agent Romanov approached the pilot to get an ETA on arrival, and then told him to inform dispatch that she had been assigned a follow-up confidential mission. The pilot looked a little surprised, but acknowledged and sent the message as ordered. It wasn't that unusual for agents to get dropped into secondary missions, especially highly skilled agents like Natasha Romanov. The other agents on the plane were probably wondering exactly what was so important to grab Romanov literally before her boots had even hit the ground, but none of them asked any questions. Natasha simply returned to her seat and didn't volunteer any information, seemingly as implacable as ever.

====

When Natasha landed and walked out of the ship carrying her kit, she kept her earpiece in just in case JARVIS needed to contact her again. As soon as she was in the elevator by herself and descending, she asked JARVIS for an update. The AI told her that Darcy was still in her bathroom but it sounded like she was still in the throes of her panic attack. Natasha had never worked as a soother before, even though betas sometimes were used for that in the Russian military, as the Red Room was too callous for that kind of care for their operatives. It didn't mean that Natasha had never seen a panic attack before though, and she instantly recognized the symptoms when JARVIS described the situation to her. Thankfully Darcy had recognized the problem herself, and had put herself in as safe a place as she could be to ride it out. Now Natasha just needed to get to her.

Natasha had JARVIS unlock the front door, picking the one that he couldn't electronically open, and found the door blocked by the planter like JARVIS had warned her. Pushing against the door, she managed to move the planter away enough that she could squeeze through the opening of the door.

"Darcy?" Natasha called out into the empty apartment in her best soothing voice, trying to put into it as much loving and care as she could. "Baby, are you in here?" She closed the door again behind her and had JARVIS lock it again. In a much quieter voice, she said, "Tell me when she reacts to my voice and how she reacts please, JARVIS."

"Yes, Agent Romanov," JARVIS replied into her earpiece.

"Baby?" Natasha called out again, walking softly towards Darcy's door. "Darcy, can you hear me?"

"She hears you now. She's lifted up her head a little and has quieted her breathing, most likely so she can listen," JARVIS said into her ear.

"Darcy? It's me, Natasha. Are you in here?" Natasha called out in the same soothing tone. Natasha reached out to put her hand on the doorknob to the bedroom, but didn't make a move to open it.

"She's looking at the door, but she hasn't otherwise moved. She doesn't appear to be breathing as heavily as she was before, but there are tears rolling down her face still."

Natasha nodded. "Darcy, if you can hear me baby, you don't have to say anything, but can you nod for me?"

"She's nodding," JARVIS informed her.

Natasha closed her eyes and exhaled sharply in relief. "Ok baby, that's good. I want to come in there with you, is that okay?"

"She's nodding again."

"Alright Darcy, I'm gonna open the door and come in there, okay? I'll be right there."

"She's nodding, and she moved like she was possibly thinking about getting up, but she aborted the movement and is still sitting on her knees on the floor."

Natasha nodded for JARVIS' benefit and made quick work of the lock on the bedroom door, swinging it shut behind her. Just inside the bedroom door, Natasha called out soothingly, at a much lower volume this time since she was so close, "Okay baby, I'm here and I'm coming in, okay? I'm going to open the door now."

"She's started sobbing again but she's also nodding."

Natasha didn't bother responding to that, already focusing all of her attention on the doorknob—fortunately bathroom locks pretty much all worked the same and basically needed just a single push to open, so Natasha had it unlocked almost as fast as just opening the door. Setting her lockpicks aside, Natasha twisted the handle open with as minimal noise as she could manage and then opened the door slowly to peek her head inside.

"Oh Darcy, baby," she said softly, putting as much soothing and love into her voice as she could. Stepping inside and closing the door behind her, she scooped Darcy into her arms, the younger woman's body wracked in silent sobs. "I'm here, I'm here now. Nothing will harm you. I'll keep you safe," Natasha promised, stroking Darcy's hair gently. She could instantly tell her mate was sweating profusely, the alpha's hair and clothes damp against her body.

As soon as Darcy had calmed down enough to stop sobbing, weakly clutching Natasha to her, Natasha suggested that they get into the shower and wash off. Darcy nodded her head, and with shaky legs and arms, she let Natasha undress her and help her into the shower. Darcy wasn't really capable of standing up for long periods, so Natasha had her sit on the floor for a bit while Natasha took all her clothes off to join Darcy in the shower. It took some coaxing, but eventually Natasha got them both washed up. When not actively washing, Darcy sat with her eyes closed, her head resting back against the shower wall, completely wiped out and limp from the panic attack.

Once she'd helped Darcy out of the shower and toweled both of them off, she had Darcy pick out sleep clothes for both of them now that Darcy was able to move around a bit on her own, though still not speaking. Natasha took that opportunity to put some water on the stove to make some of Darcy's calming teas, and she also pulled out some boxed mac and cheese, which Natasha had learned was one of Darcy's comfort foods. Leaving those two pots on the stove for the water to heat up, Natasha went back into the bedroom to see that Darcy was sitting on the bed just finishing up putting on some sweatpants and loose tee. Natasha accepted the other set of clothes that Darcy indicated to her and put them on too, before holding her arms out to Darcy, who crawled into Natasha's embrace over the bed. Darcy put her head into the crook of Natasha's neck, and took in a deep shuddering breath.

"Baby, I'm here, I'm right here," Natasha said softly, petting her mate's head as Darcy's breathing gradually returned to normal now that she was in the beta's arms. It made the spy feel weirdly proud that she was able to soothe her mate, like Natasha was filling her calling, and she smiled tenderly at the alpha in her arms.

Darcy nodded as if acknowledging what Natasha said and then nuzzled further into the Avenger's neck, sighing, some of the tension leaving her shoulders.

"I'm making some mac and cheese and tea, you think you can eat or drink something yet?"

Darcy shrugged.

"Okay, well, we can try it. Do you want to move to the couch so I can keep an eye on the water boiling?"

Darcy nodded and pulled back, but not before giving Natasha a quick squeeze. Natasha led her mate out to the common area, picking up the throw from the back of the couch and wrapping it around them both as they sat down on the couch to wait for the water to boil. The tea was ready first, and Natasha got up to pour it into a mug, dumping the noodles into the water ,then carrying the mug back to the couch for Darcy. By the time the mac and cheese was ready, Darcy was drinking some of the tea. Natasha set them up with a single bowl between them and started eating, snuggling her mate in her lap and occasionally offering spoonfuls to Darcy.

When they'd eaten half the box between them, Darcy felt up to offering some very half-hearted comments about the best tricks to mixing mac and cheese, and that Natasha should learn from the master, obviously trying to get her shield of bravado back in place. Darcy's voice was scratchy and rough, and she didn't say it at anywhere near her usual volume, but the sheer Darcy-ness of the comment made Natasha smile unabashedly. Darcy responded with her own smile, though weak.

"You really do have a beautiful smile," Darcy said, her voice rough. "Now I just have to figure out how to get you to do it more often. Maybe we can set up some spy games, or some kittens. Do you ... you do like kittens, don't you?"

Still smiling, Natasha affirmed, "Yes, I do like kittens."

"Ok good, because I'm not coming up with a lot of alternatives right now." Darcy stopped talking momentarily when Natasha coaxed her into eating another spoonful of mac and cheese. "Although, we'd have to put the kittens in yours and Clint's area, because Jane's allergic to cats, otherwise I'd probably have already talked her into getting one by now."

"Darcy," Natasha said, partly amused and partly exasperated.

"What?"

"Eat your mac and cheese."

Darcy harrumphed and rolled her eyes, though she was smiling slightly while she did it so she obviously wasn't that annoyed. "Alright, give it here," she said, taking the bowl from Natasha and promptly shoveling inexpertly-mixed cheesy noodles into her mouth. "But we're talking more about the kittens later," she said around a bite.

"We'll talk about the kittens later," Natasha agreed.

Darcy smiled in response and started eating more actively, much more like her normal self.

====

Maria Hill frowned at the door to the common room. It had been some time since they'd finally ordered the pizza, and the food had already arrived, but Darcy still hadn't returned yet. Maria had been watching the door intently hoping to see either Darcy return, or even maybe Natasha walk in. Because she was tapped into dispatch through her earpiece still, she knew that Natasha had returned from her mission but had been called off to do something else, something that Maria hadn't been briefed on. Since Hill was currently off-duty, it wasn't inconceivable that she hadn't heard about this mission yet if it had been something really last minute, but it still bothered Maria slightly.

"When's Darcy coming back?" Maria asked, as the two Avengers dug into their pizzas. They'd ended up ordering nearly 20 pizzas, just because these were the Avengers and people always wandered into the common area at the last minute once they found out that food had arrived. It was like being in a tower of junior agents, only with bigger appetites—serum-enhanced hero appetites. Hill was glad that it was Stark and not SHIELD that was footing the food bill.

Steve looked up from one of his five pizzas, shrugging.

"Assistant Director Hill, if I may," JARVIS intoned from the ceiling. "Ms. Lewis was called away on urgent business and begs that you don't wait for her."

"She usually just stops by and grabs food, then leaves again," Steve offered conversationally.

"Darcy tends to come after the food gets here," Bruce supplied. "College students are like that."

"She's a college student?" Hill asked.

Bruce nodded. "She's one of the interns for Dr. Foster in the astrophysics lab."

"Hmm," the assistant director hummed noncommittally. "I don't think I've met Dr. Foster yet."

"She came in after the London attack, you know, with those dark elves?" Steve said. "She's Thor's mate."

"Ah," Hill said, mentally placing the person she'd seen from her files. "I know who she is then, although I don't think we've ever met in person. I authorized the airlift for some of her lab equipment."

Bruce nodded. "I took a look in her lab—she's got some neat toys."

"I might have to stop by and introduce myself some day," Hill said. The three of them went back to eating their pizzas, although Maria didn't stop surreptitiously watching the door, and hoping.


	7. Who knew superheroes had so much interpersonal drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: Natasha takes matters into her own hands

The next morning Natasha instructed JARVIS to keep a close eye on Darcy while she was in her lab—specifically leaving instructions to keep Maria Hill away from Darcy or, failing that, get the intern away from the lab if Maria tried to approach—and Natasha went over to the SHIELD headquarters. She hadn't done her post-mission debrief from the day before, thanks to JARVIS' intervention and redirect, so she was still required to check in. But Natasha had another mission—she needed to have A Talk with the assistant director.

Natasha was normally very circumspect in her dealings, which was a necessary component of her job as a spy and infiltration specialist, but when she needed to be direct, the former Red Room assassin didn't play around. On her arrival at headquarters, she went straight up to the desk and informed the receptionist that she was here for her appointment to speak with Assistant Director Maria Hill.

The receptionist looked up at her confused. "I- I'm sorry, Agent Romanov," he stuttered, recognizing the agent—everyone at SHIELD knew Agent Natasha Romanov on sight. "I don't see your appointment on the schedule."

Natasha raised a single eyebrow at the man, who gulped visibly. "I suggest you check with her," she said, in a calm but extremely firm tone. Most of SHIELD so terrified of the spy that she never even needed to threaten anyone to get people to hop to her 'suggestions'—which was tiring, but today it turned out to be convenient.

"O- of course, Agent," the receptionist said, and he picked up the desk phone to call up.

====

Assistant Director Maria Hill was in her usual meeting with Director Fury, going over personnel assignments and general performance studies of various agents. They had a lot of work to do to replace the agents that Hydra had planted or killed in the recent fighting. The two had decided to work around the core assumption that all the Avengers could be trusted, along with maybe a handful of agents that Fury had thoroughly tested, but basically everyone else was suspect. It was a long and grueling process to clear everyone, and the two had already put long hours into this task over the days since the DC incident. They were finishing up some details on various tests they could perform to test for Hydra status, when a call came in over the room intercom.

"Um, Assistant Director Hill?" said the shaky voice of Brian from downstairs.

Maria keyed on her earpiece for clarity, though she let the call continue to come through over the room speakers since it didn't appear to be a confidential matter. "Yes, Brian?"

"Uh, I'm sorry to disturb you, Assistant Director, but A- Agent Romanov is here for her appointment with you."

Maria blinked once, then exchanged a glance with Director Fury. They both knew Romanov didn't have an appointment with Maria. Hill swore softly, guessing that it could only be about the mate-scent or something personal, and judging by how shit-scared Brian sounded Natasha wasn't willing to be put off about it. "Alright Brian, thank you for letting me know. Please send Agent Romanov to my office and inform her I'll be there directly."

"Yes, ma'am," Brian said, sounding relieved.

Fury gave Hill a single raised eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that you knew Agent Romanov all that well."

"I don't—but I've been trying to," Assistant Director Hill said, surprising herself by flushing very faintly.

Fury made a fairly judging humming sound. "Well, I expect you to go take care of whatever it was that pissed her off."

"Yes, sir," Hill said emphatically, rising promptly from her seat and striding from the room.

Maria made it to the hallway outside her office just moments before Natasha arrived, and Hill paused to watch the former assassin's approach. The woman moved with a deadly grace that was stunning to see—although the fact that Maria could see it right now meant that Romanov wasn't bothering to hide her anger or potential for violence, which meant bad news for Hill. Agent Romanov's expression didn't give away any of her feeling, but the intensity of her gaze on Maria was simultaneously chilling and thrilling. The few other agents that were in the hallway to witness Natasha's approach fled immediately.

Agent Hill stood waiting by the door to her office as the Russian walked towards her, feeling rooted to the spot, though she tried to give no indication of her inner turmoil. As soon as Romanov was close enough to be considered normal conversation distance, Maria said, "Agent Romanov, it's good to see you." When Natasha said nothing and didn't change her expression at all, Maria cleared her throat and opened the door, saying, "Shall we go in?"

Natasha strode in as soon as the doors opened without acknowledging anything Maria said, and Assistant Director Hill followed her inside with a mental 'oh shit, this is bad'. As soon as the doors hissed shut behind them Romanov spun around to advance on Maria, forcing her retreat until she was pressed up against the wall.

"I thought I warned you to stay away from Darcy," Natasha said, visibly angry now.

"From Darcy?" Hill asked, a little bewildered, but keeping her attention on all of Romanov's limbs and where they currently were. This could get ugly really fast, and Hill wasn't even sure yet if she should try to retaliate if attacked. Any defense she could put up might not withstand the apparent anger of Natasha Romanov, and now Maria was pressed up against the wall, limiting her movement.

"I told you I was taken, and I told you she wasn't ready," Natasha hissed, pressing two stiffened fingers painfully against Maria's sternum. "What did you not understand about that warning." There was no inflection at all in the question, and it sounded more like Natasha was giving an order than asking.

Maria slowly raised her hands into a surrender position, trying not to make any sudden movements around the upset beta who was clearly defending her mate. "I didn't know that was her until after we'd approached and shook hands. After that, when she put distance between us, I didn't go anywhere closer to her or even try to talk to her for the entire time she was there until she left the room."

Natasha wordlessly growled, and Maria swallowed hard. This was not going well.

"I swear to you, I won't get that close to her again withou-"

Natasha interrupted her sharply, saying, "No, you will not even be in the same room as her. You will not seek her out, and you will not interact with her in any way without asking for my permission first, or without her giving you explicit consent—which you may not approach her to ask for."

"Yes," Maria agreed instantly, still keeping her hands up.

"You will follow JARVIS' instructions if he gives you any suggestion about not entering any specific rooms, or directions on where you should go while inside Stark Tower."

Maria's eyes snapped up to Natasha's, surprised to hear that the building AI was somehow part of this effort to protect Darcy—briefly wondering if JARVIS' involvement was due to Darcy, or Natasha, or someone else. Although Hill didn't understand all the vectors involved here, she knew that she only had one option for how to respond, and said, after only a very brief pause, "Yes, of course."

"If for any reason, you need to speak to Darcy, you will only go through me or JARVIS or her boss, Dr. Jane Foster. There are no other options, and you will _not_ attempt to speak to her directly."

The somewhat unnatural angle that Maria was still holding herself at against the wall began to be uncomfortable, but the assistant director didn't move a muscle, only responding, "Yes, agreed."

Natasha didn't say anything else, not releasing Maria from the wall and just glaring at her for a while. Eventually, the spy stepped back, and Maria finally took her first full breath since stepping into the office, although she didn't try to straighten up from her position against the wall or otherwise make any movements.

"I don't need to tell you how painful it will be for you if you don't heed my instructions—you've seen my file. You already know what I'm capable of." With one brief glance looking Maria up and down, Natasha turned and walked out of the room, not bothering to look back.

Maria slumped against the wall in relief, surprised both at how badly that had gone, and yet also surprised that it somehow hadn't escalated to something worse. After regaining her equilibrium and making sure that she didn't look as harried as she felt, Hill returned to the conference room where Director Fury was still sitting, going over the files.

Fury eyed her and then glanced up at the clock. "Well, that didn't take that long." Once she'd sat down, he continued. "But if you look that stressed out she must have done a real number on you."

Hill gave her boss a look, but only said wryly, "Thank you for noticing that I look like shit, sir." She looked down at the files and started picking up where she'd left off. When Fury only continued to look at her expectantly, Maria continued without looking up, "On the brighter side, it's probably only going to get better from here." The Director raised both his eyebrows at her, and Maria sighed, giving in and meeting Fury's gaze. "She's a potential mate," she admitted finally.

Director Fury continued looking at her incredulously and leaned back slowly in his chair.

"Trust me, sir, it won't happen again," Hill said firmly, meeting Fury's one remaining eye in a gaze conveying her earnestness.

The director grunted, and they both went back to work looking through the files. After a few moments, Fury grumbled, mostly to himself but Maria was able to pick up the words, "Who knew superheroes would have so much interpersonal _drama_."

"They're still people, sir—there are just more consequences when they get so pissed off that they can't control it."

Fury just grunted again and kept his attention on the papers in front of him.


	8. From threats to date night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: Wow, that moved fast

A few days later, Natasha was just finishing up from the gym when her phone pinged quietly. Opening her messages, she saw one from a number she didn't know. It sounded a little weird, almost like the way JARVIS speaks—and then Natasha remembered Darcy saying something about JARVIS having a number for texting and cell communications for when he couldn't connect directly.

> Unknown Number: Agent Romanov, I have received a request from Assistant Director Maria Hill for your cell phone number.

"Doesn't she already have access to my number, JARVIS?" Natasha asked out loud. She appreciated that JARVIS had left a message for her rather than interrupting her workout, but she wasn't going to type everything out when JARVIS was literally right there listening to her.

JARVIS responded over the room speakers. "Technically, yes, Agent Romanov, but only for official SHIELD uses. She mentioned that it would be unethical and would probably betray your trust if she were to use her official SHIELD clearances to gain access to your personal cell phone number."

"Hmm," Natasha said. "That's fine, you can give her my number."

"Very good, Agent Romanov."

Natasha picked up her gym bag and headed back to her apartment to go clean up, guessing that it wouldn't take long for Hill to contact her and that JARVIS had probably already sent the number to her—the AI usually didn't waste time on anything. As she'd expected, by the time she'd gotten back to her apartment and was about to step into the shower, Natasha's phone pinged to indicate that she'd received a message.

> Unknown number: Hi, Natasha. This is Maria. How would you feel about meeting up sometime?

Glancing at it quickly, Natasha didn't answer, instead taking the time she was in the shower to think about it a little. She knew that it was probably safest to have Hill trying to get in contact with Natasha first, but honestly Natasha was already content with how things were going with just Darcy and wasn't really thrilled about adding more uncontrolled elements to the mix. It would be nice if Maria could have just backed off, but it was now obvious to Natasha that Hill wasn't going to do that—and honestly, when Darcy had attempted to dissuade Natasha, the former assassin had not let go either, so it wasn't like Natasha could really blame Maria for it. It just wasn't very convenient for Natasha right now—or Darcy.

The intern had thankfully been doing much better, and had been making a show of being right back to normal and that nothing was wrong, but Natasha wasn't fooled. She knew better than anyone that the type of unseen wounds that caused a reaction like the one Darcy had had didn't just disappear on their own, and eventually Natasha would need to sit down with Darcy and try to work through it. She was even thinking about asking Darcy to go to one of the many therapists or psychiatrists that SHIELD employed and made available to all its agents—as Natasha's mate, Darcy would be have access to that benefit—but Natasha herself hadn't made much use of it for her own traumas yet.

And if Natasha knew anything about Darcy, the intern would probably put up a fight about going to see a therapist until Natasha herself went to one. The Russian knew it was something she would eventually have to do anyway—and doing it to make Darcy feel better was probably the only way the former assassin would have ever agreed to it voluntarily, so ... honestly Natasha just needed to get on with it. She made a mental note to herself to schedule a psych review and probably a meeting with HR about adding Darcy as a mate to her file. It would probably be an awkward conversation with Darcy when she brought it up, but it needed to happen, especially since it didn't look like Maria Hill was going to go away anytime soon.

While she was toweling herself dry after the shower, Natasha responded to Maria's message with one hand, and set her phone back down to finish drying.

> Natasha: I'm free tonight

It was short notice, but Natasha had no doubt that Maria would make it happen—and besides, Natasha _was_ free. Darcy and Jane were doing a girl's night out tonight. Natasha had taken Jane aside and told her about Darcy's episode, and Jane had let Natasha know that it hadn't been the first time, so tonight Jane was taking it upon herself to watch her friend and intern, and get them both out to have some stress relief and fun in a safe space. Natasha was just glad that Jane was so attentive to Darcy's needs and seemed to genuinely care about her, equally glad that Thor wasn't one of those possessive alphas that would prevent Darcy from seeing his mate regularly like that.

Natasha had actually asked Thor about that once. His response had been both simple and well-thought out—from his perspective, the two women had been this close before Thor had even come into the picture, so if they had managed to be an alpha and omega in a platonic, caring relationship for so long, who was Thor to tell them to stop just because Jane was his mate? The Asgardian prince also got on really well with Darcy, and the two had formed a stable and enduring friendship. Now that the spy thought about it, it was similar to the way Darcy had befriended Clint so effortlessly. Natasha felt blessed that she had somehow landed in among such amazing people, with such a caring and easy-going alpha as her mate, especially after all the terrible things the former assassin had lived through.

Hopefully Maria Hill would turn out to be nice as well, but Natasha was wary about it—she was wary about everyone and everything, at least until she felt she had a good enough handle on them to trust them. And there were very few people that had gained her trust. Natasha's phone pinged.

> Maria: Dinner? Drinks? Movie?
> 
> Natasha: dinner
> 
> Maria: Fancy or casual?
> 
> Natasha: casual
> 
> Maria: Restaurant or takeout at my/your place?
> 
> Natasha: either one
> 
> Maria: Ok, takeout at your place?
> 
> Natasha: no, your place is better
> 
> Maria: 7? 8?
> 
> Natasha: 7 is fine, text me your address and I'll be there
> 
> Maria: <location sent>

When they'd finally finished their back-and-forth over what to do, it was nearing six and Natasha had already gotten dressed for a casual date—basically skinny jeans and a tight shirt under a black leather jacket. Darcy and Jane had already left, so Natasha didn't have much else to do, so she pulled up the location on maps to see where it was. Then, since it wouldn't actually take her that long to get there and she still had time to kill, Natasha pulled up the personnel files at SHIELD on the assistant director.

Granted, it had lots of sections that Natasha was restricted from viewing, but Natasha could at least see her overall mission participation sheet, when she'd joined SHIELD, and the declassified version of her employment history prior to SHIELD. It wasn't much to go on, and normally Natasha would have found her own probably unsanctioned sources of information, but she hadn't given herself much time, and Natasha was feeling uncharacteristically generous. After her one big initial mistake, Maria Hill had been holding exactly to the letter of Natasha's imposed restrictions, and the spy felt that she could just ask Hill to give her access to her unredacted personnel file later, and the assistant director would probably do it.

Taking the subway, it didn't take long for Natasha to show up at Maria's place. It was in a fairly nondescript apartment building right between a residential and industrial area. She pushed the button next to Hill's name on the residents list, and was buzzed up without being questioned. Natasha wondered what other security measures were in place, and headed up the stairs. Maria was on the fourth floor, which wasn't enough to wear Natasha out, but enough to make her slightly winded, so she paused at the fourth-floor door in the stairwell for about fifteen seconds before going into the hallway.

Maria's door was the second on the right, and just before she reached it the door swung open, revealing Maria in a dark green henley and jeans. Natasha saw Hill open her mouth to say something, and then the assistant director's eyes dropped to Natasha's tight shirt, and Maria swallowed. Her eyes stayed down there until Natasha walked the last few steps to stand and front of Maria, and said, "Hi."

The assistant director's eyes snapped back up to Natasha's, and she flushed slightly, saying, "Oh hey, yeah, come on right in." Hill stepped back quickly from the door.

Natasha stepped inside and took in the apartment in a quick glance, her spy training noting all the exits, choke points, and likely hiding places for weapons or bugs. It was a fairly standard apartment, maybe less fancy than what she would have expected considering Maria's rank in SHIELD and probable pay grade. Even Natasha rated an apartment better than this, and she was only an active agent, not the assistant director for an enormous and powerful government organization.

Beyond that, the place looked comfortable and lived-in, so Natasha said, simply, "Nice place." Hill showed her where she could set her bag and jacket, if she wanted, and then lead her over to the couch. The coffee table had some takeout bags sitting on it, still unopened—it appeared that the food had arrived just before Natasha had.

"I hope you like Chinese food," Maria said. When Natasha raised an eyebrow, the taller assistant director admitted somewhat sheepishly, "I uh, asked Clint for a suggestion. I figured he'd probably know what you like."

"I can always go for Chinese," Natasha said, sitting down on the couch. She could tell from Clint's suggestion that he hadn't been 100% trusting of Hill either, and so had only offered her a choice that Natasha thought was fine, but wasn't Natasha's favorite. Clint knew how much information could be culled from even talking about something as simple as food preferences, and had obviously wanted to only provide a little help—and Natasha was sure that the archer was going to be teasing her about this later.

Maria sat down on the couch with a decent amount of space between them, obviously not wanting to crowd the former assassin. "I got a variety of some of my favorites, since Chinese makes good leftovers and whatever we don't eat can just go in the fridge." She started listing off the options as she pulled out containers. Hill had pulled out plates for both of them, which after living with Darcy, who only used plates when absolutely necessary—and even then it was debatable—Natasha found the use of actual place settings to be cute. Natasha grabbed a set of chopsticks and scooped some from three different containers onto her plate.

"So uh, I've noticed so far that you're not that fond of conversation, so I could put on a movie or tv if you'd like," Maria offered as she dumped some eggrolls and fried wontons onto her plate—Natasha noted with some internal amusement that both her potential mate alphas seemed to have a love of fried food.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at Hill, saying, "I'm perfectly capable of holding a conversation—I just didn't particularly want to." Maria laughed somewhat sheepishly at that, and nodded. The spy compromised, adding, "You can put some music on, though."

"Any preference?"

When Natasha shook her head in a negative, Maria skimmed the music channels on the TV till she found one playing show tunes. Natasha raised her eyebrows. It was a choice she wouldn't have predicted for the assistant director—she seemed much more like an electronica or classic rock sort of person.

True to her word, Natasha picked a few light conversation topics and they chatted about those for a bit while they ate. She avoided the topics of Darcy or the state of their relationship—since Natasha still hadn't really talked about it that much with Darcy herself yet. They only briefly talked about work, about how it was sometimes hard trying to have a normal life outside of work with the type of job that they had. The conversation was easy and felt nice, and Natasha found that she genuinely enjoyed Maria's company and dry sense of humor. She wasn't as bombastic or verbally confrontational as Darcy, but Natasha thought it was definitely in the realm of possibility for the two alphas to get on well—eventually, once they'd dealt with the issues Darcy was trying to pretend she didn't have.

Soon enough, it was after ten already, and Natasha said, "I don't know how late I'm going to stay. It depends on how late Darcy stays out."

Hill fiddled with her chopsticks a little, hesitating, before finally saying in a rush, "How is she doing? Is she okay?"

Natasha could tell Maria was asking out of concern, and that was the only reason the former spy didn't completely brush off Hill's question. The Russian redhead considered for a moment, and answered, "If you're asking right now, then she's probably thoroughly drunk and having a blast with Jane. If you mean more generally? That's not a question I'm going to answer on a first date."

Maria instantly nodded. "Ok that's fair, yeah, that's fine."

Hill's obvious desire to do whatever was required to get out of the proverbial doghouse that she was in made Natasha sigh in sympathy. She was fairly convinced now of Maria's trustworthiness, and the spy made the decision to share the pertinent details with her. At least it would let the assistant director know what she was getting into, if she wanted to continue.

"Look, I know you don't know what's going on with Darcy—honestly, I don't think anyone does except Darcy herself, not even Jane—but meeting you, well ... it gave Darcy a panic attack. We're talking a full-blown, unable-to-function panic attack, and according to Jane it's not the first time that it's happened. I can tell that you're not going to just give up, but it's going to take some time and effort before Darcy is ready to have you around or consider the question of being mates. I don't think you're a bad person—it was just bad luck and a bad situation. And I'm not going to go into any other relationship without having Darcy with me, no matter how much Darcy tries to subtly convince me that she's not worth it."

Maria's hand reflexively tightened on the chopsticks she was still holding, making one snap in half, although she didn't seem to have noticed. With a frown, Hill repeated, "She thinks she's not worth it?"

Natasha nodded. "She's pretty adept at hiding it most of the time, but it's there, buried under all the bravado and sarcasm."

Hill frowned deeper, neither of them talking for a moment, and then Maria's expression softened, "Bravado and sarcasm, huh?"

Natasha blinked at Maria in surprise. "Wow, you really didn't get to talk to her at all, did you?"

Shaking her head, Hill said, "No, not really—we barely exchanged three sentences—although I did see a little bit of the bravado I think."

"Well, you'll definitely see it later, once we get to that point," Natasha said with a fond smirk.

Maria leaned forward eagerly. "Is there anything at all I could do to help?"

Frowning, Natasha considered for a moment, before shaking her head. "No, not right now—but once I get Darcy to the point where she can be in the same room as you then there will be. I'll keep you informed."

"Please do."

They talked about less consequential things for a while, and then finally Natasha's phone pinged. Glancing down, Natasha found not the text message from Darcy that she'd been expecting, but a voice recording. She looked up at Maria, who had her attention on Natasha, and then pressed play on the message.

Darcy's drunk voice filled the room. "Heeeeeeeeey 'Tasha, I'm calling you to tell you, wellllll not calling, I'm _voice-messaging_ you to tell you ... tell you that we're in a cab on our way home because I told you I'd tell you ... told you tell you-" Here Darcy burst into giggles.

"Daaarcy, finish your message." That was Jane's voice, who sounded significantly less drunk, but still drunk.

"Okay okaaaaaay, so we're on our way back, aaaand I can't wait to see your pretty face, aaaaaaand I'm sorry in advance because I'm gonna be _soooooooo hung over_ tomorrow, aaaaaaaaand ... what else did we need to say?"

"I think that was it," Jane's voice piped in.

"Okay that's it, byyyyyyyeeeeeeeee." The message clicked to an end.

Natasha, smiling, set the phone down on the coffee table, and when she looked up, found Maria with an incredulous and amused expression on her face. Recognizing this as the effect Darcy just had on people, Natasha said, "The first thing Clint told me about Darcy, the very first thing he said after her name, was that she's adorable."

Hill huffed out a little chuckle. "Well, he's right."

The spy got her things ready to go, Maria insisting that she take back a couple containers for Darcy, since the intern would probably be hungry, at least if she wasn't so drunk that she immediately passed out. When Natasha went to pick up her purse, Maria reached a hand out to stop her.

"Um, before you go ... would it be alright if I kissed you?" Hill asked, blushing hard.

Natasha turned to face Maria, considering. The spy had already talked with Darcy about seeing Hill so that wouldn't be an issue, and Darcy probably wasn't going to be all that sensitive to smells in her extremely drunken state, so the smell of Maria on her should be okay. Also, Natasha was pretty sure that all three of them were going to eventually end up together, and she felt bad about forcing Hill to remain on the outside for now, so Natasha sucked in a breath and then nodded.

Maria wasted no time in stepping into Natasha's personal space, but then moved more slowly as she pressed closer, until she was brushing her nose against Natasha's. The alpha nuzzled gently, nudging Natasha's head into a more kissable position, and then touched their lips together. As soon as Natasha felt their lips connect, she inhaled sharply, and brought her hands up to hold the sides of Hill's head. Maria's lips moved softly, but with no hesitation, against Natasha's, sweet and firm and with obvious care.

Natasha quickly found herself lost in Hill's mouth and lips, and then Maria's mouth roamed to the spy's cheek, then ear, and then her neck. The alpha moaned and kissed up and down Natasha's neck, finally landing on the crook of her neck where the spy's scent was strongest. The beta found her own nose drawn down to Maria's neck as the alpha's attentions continued, and Natasha inhaled, drinking deeply of the alpha's scent. When Maria grazed her teeth over the incredibly sensitive skin there at the base of her neck, the Russian groaned, and turned her head so she could bite at Hill's jaw. Feeling the beta biting her jaw made Maria gasp, and then the alpha's hips bucked forward once sharply. The movement broke the spell and reminded Maria that they were supposed to be saying goodbye.

"I think," Maria said, a little breathless, "that you should probably go, before I forget myself and try to push further than you're ready to go right now."

"Oh, I'm ready," Natasha answered, pulling back and giving Hill a truly mouth-wateringly sexy look, "but I want Darcy to be ready with me."

The assistant director found she could only nod mutely.

Natasha laid a hand gently against one of Maria's cheeks for a moment, and then kissed the other cheek softly, before picking up her purse and leaving. Hill stood there still after the door had closed behind Natasha, lifting one hand up to touch her cheek where Natasha had just kissed it.


	9. Darcy, three sheets to the wind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: Pepper Potts gets an eyeful
> 
> In recompense for the last chapter being so short, this one is extra long.  
> ====

Darcy was three sheets to the wind and talking loudly in the apartment that she shared with Jane and Thor by the time Natasha got back to Stark Tower. She was also sprawled across the couch. When Natasha stepped through the door to their shared living area, Darcy popped her head up with a huge smile on her face.

"Babyyyyyyyy!" she cooed drunkenly. "You're back!"

Jane seemed to be busy pressing Thor up against the wall and hadn't noticed that Natasha was even there, so the former assassin decided to leave them alone for now and focus on her alpha.

"Hey Darcy," Natasha said, helping Darcy sit up on the couch. "Are you ready to come to bed with me?"

"Oh baby, I am _always_ ready to come to bed with you," Darcy flirted, slurring her words.

Natasha chuckling, coaxed Darcy to her feet. "Ok, then let's go back to my place."

"Mmmkay," Darcy said from where she'd planted her face into Natasha's chest and jacket. "Mmmmm, you smell soooooo nice."

It was a bit of a struggle keeping Darcy upright, but finally they made it back to Natasha's place, and Natasha put the drunk intern directly on her bed once they got there. Brushing Darcy's hair back from her face—the younger woman's hair was all over the place right now—the spy got her alpha's attention and then said, "Hey baby, can you strip for me? I want to put us in something more comfortable."

Darcy smirked seductively, saying, "Hell yeah, I'll strip for you, honey." She promptly started fumbling with her clothes, trying to get them off. The beta undid all the buttons and zippers, and then left the rest of the clothes to keep the younger woman busy and out of trouble while Natasha went to get supplies. The spy grabbed a big bottle of water from the well-stocked pantry—Tony always overdid all the preparations for every unit in the building, but at least it meant they never lacked anything—and then grabbed some painkillers from the medicine cabinet. Natasha put both the water and pills on the end table next to the bed, where Darcy was still trying to wriggle out of her pants.

Natasha smiled unbidden at her mate's drunken antics, and then helped the young alpha pull her pants off.

Darcy responded by looking up at the Russian, smiling and greeting her happily, "Hey!"

The alpha had ended up flat on her back on the bed after the effort to pull off her pants, with Natasha standing at the edge of the bed over her. On noticing her mate there, Darcy wriggled over to plant her face into Natasha's outer thigh and nuzzle it—the drunk intern was now sprawled out face down on the bed and holding onto the Black Widow's leg. Darcy was also completely naked now except for her underwear, and the beta's entire body flushed seeing this beautiful woman with her face pressed so close to where Natasha really wanted her.

Knowing that Darcy was drunk and not capable of consent right now, or even aware of her own boundaries, had been helping the beta keep her libido in check up to this point. Now that beautiful young alpha was flopping around on Natasha's bed though—some parts of her flopping more enticingly than others, the spy noted—Natasha was finding it difficult to remember why she needed to keep her hands to herself. The Avenger needed a distraction, for both herself and Darcy.

"What do you want to wear to bed, Darcy?" Natasha asked, extracting herself from her mate's grasp and going over to her drawers and pulling out a teeshirt, which thankfully meant that she wasn't staring at the alpha's naked body anymore.

"Ohhh," Darcy said, getting up from the bed clumsily. "I wanna see what you have." She dropped onto the floor next to Natasha. "In here?" she asked, pulling open a drawer.

"Yeah," said Natasha, ripping her gaze away from the way her mate's bare chest was pressed against the drawer she was looking into. The spy retreated towards the bathroom. "I'm going to go finish getting ready for bed. I'll be right back—and don't forget to drink the water I put by the bed."

"Mmmkay," Darcy agreed happily, now entirely focused on rifling through the drawers.

Natasha got into the bathroom and leaned against the wall for a moment, exhaling shakily. First Maria and now Darcy turning her on—her mates were going to kill her, and they weren't even officially mates yet.

Shaking her head, the Black Widow realized that she needed to get Maria's scent off her before Darcy sobered up enough to smell it and recognize who it was from—Natasha didn't want to set off a semi-drunk panic attack, which would be a very bad thing. The beta also probably needed to take care of herself in the shower, so she'd be able to sleep next to a drunk and cuddly and probably naked Darcy. Natasha stripped down and hopped into the shower, only pausing briefly to glance into the bedroom and make sure that her drunk mate hadn't gotten into trouble—but no, the alpha was still digging through Natasha's clothes, and who knows what the Avenger would find when she got out of the shower.

Luckily, with the very recent contact with Darcy's naked body and remembering the passionate kiss at Maria's place, Natasha was able to quickly get herself to climax. She then spent a few minutes just relaxing in the shower and washing before she stepped out. After toweling herself off, she wrapped the towel around herself and stepped out into the bedroom to find Darcy laying spread-eagled in the middle of her bed—and wearing a flimsy nightie. It was something that the spy had kept in one of her bottom drawers for when she might need to look seductive, although she'd never worn it before. She'd of course worn similar or even more revealing night attire on missions, but Natasha's personal sex life had only involved one night stands at other people's houses, and not actually bringing anyone home with her to make use of her own lingerie.

Darcy was a little bigger in the hips and chest than Natasha was, and so the nightie was tighter-fitting on the currently drunk alpha laying in her bed. The intern didn't move at all when the beta stepped into the room, and watching her for a moment Natasha could tell that the alpha was just on the edge of sleep. She stepped over to the bed and gently removed Darcy's discarded clothes from the bedding, some of which were still trapped under her mate.

The movement roused Darcy, who gave Natasha a sleepy 'heeeeey' and nuzzled sloppily into Natasha's arm as the spy leaned over her. "Mmmm, you're _naked_ ," Darcy slurred with a smile.

Natasha flushed bright red, but managed to keep her voice even. "Yeah, let's get you under the covers, hmm?" It was a good thing the spy had already taken care of business so she was more in the post-orgasm warm fuzzies, but this cute woman was still starting to get her turned on again.

"Nnnkay." Darcy tried lifting herself up, but mostly just wiggled against the bed, not helping at all. It was a good thing the Avenger didn't have to do much since the sheets had already been pulled back.

"Baby, did you drink your water? You gotta drink your water," Natasha said, handing the alpha the water bottle from the nightstand. She popped up the nozzle and handed it to Darcy, who accepted it wordlessly and started drinking.

The spy retreated to her wardrobe, noting the chaos and still opened drawers. She sighed and just grabbed a pair of boyshorts and soft sleep tee. She dropped her towel where she was—it wasn't like it really made a difference, what with how much of her wardrobe was currently scattered on the floor—and started putting those on.

"Ohhh, hellooooooooo," Darcy said salaciously from the bed, sitting up and staring at Natasha, blinking desperately as if trying to wake up, or maybe sober up.

The beta laughed, deciding to have some harmless fun with the drunk alpha, and shook her ass at Darcy while Natasha pulled up her boyshorts. The alpha made some incoherent noises behind her. The Black Widow made a point of leaning over dramatically to pick up her shirt and Darcy squeaked, actually squeaked. At least Natasha wasn't the only one getting unfairly turned on now. Fortunately, since the drunk intern was so close to passing out, it wasn't like giving her a show would do any real harm—except for distracting Darcy from drinking her water.

Turning around to give her mate a view of her front, Natasha stretched up languidly to pull her tee on, and Darcy's eyes were glued to the Black Widow's chest. The beta grinned, catlike, and rolled her torso sensually as she slowly pulled the hem of her shirt down her body. The alpha was sitting upright in the bed, with a glazed expression and mouth agape, and Natasha stalked towards the bed, leaning slowly down to plant her hands on the edge of the mattress.

"Baby?" the beta said lowly.

Darcy's eyes snapped up to Natasha's, and made a strangled, "Hmm?"

The Black Widow leaned forward more and bit her lip slightly. "Drink your water."

The drunk alpha nodded jerkily and brought her water up to her mouth again, drinking with renewed vigor.

"Good girl," Natasha murmured, leaning in a little further to kiss Darcy's temple. Making her voice and stance a lot less sensual, she asked, "Are you hungry at all?"

Darcy's eyes ran down and then back up the Avenger's body, but when she brought her eyes back up to Natasha's, the drunk alpha shook her head. The spy grinned, understanding _exactly_ where her mate's mind had just gone.

Leaving Darcy to continue drinking her water, the Russian went around the apartment and put things away, turning off the lights. She came back in the bedroom to find that her mate had drunk the entire bottle of water. Natasha set a fresh one from the pantry on the intern's side of the bed, and scooted into bed next to Darcy. The alpha grinned and wriggled over to her, wrapping an arm and a leg around Natasha and settling her head against the former assassin's shoulder. Normally their positions were reversed, but the spy actually rather liked sleeping like this. Maybe she ought to try it with sober Darcy sometime.

Almost as soon as the Natasha turned the lights out, her mate was asleep, and having the warm scent of Darcy around her, the Russian soon followed.

====

Darcy woke with a groan. The light in the room was way too bright, and her head was pounding—although surprisingly not as much as she would have expected after how much she'd drunk last night. The worst of it really, was that her mouth felt like something had crawled in it and died while she was asleep. She tried to roll her face into her pillow and fall back asleep until the headache stopped, but found that there was something warm wrapped around her, preventing her from doing so.

Frowning in confusion, Darcy lifted up her head and opened her eyes—and found a spray of red in front of her face. It took a moment of blinking at the red before it resolved into hair, and hair that was connected to Natasha. Despite her discomfort, the hungover intern found herself smiling. Her super-agent-spy mate looked so peaceful and untouched by the horrors of the world like this, the alpha could watch her sleep all day.

Of course, that meant that Natasha couldn't keep sleeping. The spy wrinkled her forehead. "Darcy, go back to sleep," she said sleepily, not bothering to open her eyes.

"Sorry, I can't—it's too bright and you're too pretty." Damn, early morning hungover Darcy was _smooth_.

With an expression of frustration tinged with amusement, Natasha rolled over to face her mate—Darcy was surprised to find out that the intern had been the big spoon.

"Wow, I got to be the big spoon," she immediately blurted. "Whoops, I guess I forgot my brain-to-mouth filter this morning."

"Oh my god, Darcy," Natasha groaned, burying her face into Darcy's neck and shoulder. "I swear, if you weren't so cute ...," she said, trailing off at the end, voice scratchy from sleep.

With a surprised grin, the scientist wrangler said, "I'm cute? Wait—what were you going to say? What would you do if I weren't cute?"

Voice muffled by her mate's body, Natasha grumbled, "I'm going to bite you."

"Ooooo, but I might like that," Darcy said in a teasing tone of voice.

Sighing, the beta asked, "What time is it anyway?" She didn't move from her position tucked into the intern's front.

"Ummm, five thirty?" Darcy said sheepishly. "What time did we go to bed last night?"

"One something," Natasha mumbled.

The grad student winced. "Sorry baby, you go back to sleep."

The redhead grunted, already too sleepy to respond. Darcy was feeling wired for some reason though—maybe it was because she'd had a lot of fun last night and ended up sleeping curled up around her mate? Whatever had caused it, she was too restless to stay laying down, so she decided to get up and spent a significant amount of time trying to gently and slowly extract herself from her mate's embrace. She would have loved to stay there, but she didn't want to disturb Natasha. Once she was finally free from both the bedding and the beta, Darcy looked down at what she was wearing.

"Huh, where did this come from?" she asked herself in a whisper.

Her half-asleep mate murmured something unintelligible at the noise, so Darcy decided to sneak out while she still could. She went out to the kitchen and raided the fridge—and found the jackpot, three containers of Chinese food. She grabbed one at random, opening it up to find sweet and sour something, so she dumped it into a microwaveable container and set it to reheat. She was digging around in the pantry for some kind of juice, when a noise behind her made her look behind her.

She turned around, expecting to see Natasha, but instead found a slightly bewildered-looking Clint.

Clint looked down at what Darcy was wearing.

Darcy, following his eyes, looked down at what she was wearing.

The both looked back up at each other, and Clint said, blinking, "Darcy, you're not really my type, but ... wow." He gestured with one hand at her ... everything. "Did you give Natasha a heart attack when she saw you in that?"

Darcy felt herself flushing just a little. "I ... actually don't know? I must have put it on last night, but I really don't remember and I was really drunk, so ...," she said, shrugging. "I mean, I could totally see myself putting this on because I wanted Natasha to drool over my assets." She flipped her hair over one shoulder for good effect, making Clint snigger.

The microwave beeped, and Darcy pulled out her breakfast. For some reason she was absolutely starving, and luckily she didn't feel so queasy that she couldn't eat, which was her more normal state after drinking all night. She grabbed some chopsticks from the kitchen drawer and snapped them open.

"You know," Clint said with a big sigh, wrapping an arm over Darcy's shoulders, "I'm really glad you turned out to be one of Natasha's mates. She is _so_ fucked."

Darcy gestured with her chopsticks before popping a piece of chicken in her mouth. "It's on my to-do list," she said with an perfectly straight face.

Just then a knock sounded at the door, and Darcy called, out of habit more than anything else, "Come in!"

"Uh, Darcy, you know you're ...," Clint started to say haltingly.

The door opened before he could finish whatever he was going to say, and Pepper Potts walked in, carrying a Starkpad, the assistant's eyes on the pad entering things in as she walked. "Good morning, it's good to see other people awake this early. Usually it's just me and JARVIS." She tapped a few more keys on the Starkpad, and then looked up. "So I was just coming by t-"

Pepper froze mid-word, finally taking in the fact that Darcy was there and not Natasha—and taking in the intern's outfit. Pepper's eyes dropped down to the younger woman's chest and didn't come back up.

"Hi Pepper," Darcy said, waving with a chopstick before popping another piece of sweet and sour into her mouth. Then she noticed where the Stark Industries CEO was looking, dropped her eyes down to her own outfit, and remembered how she was dressed. "Oh, uhh, ... yeah, I kinda forgot I was wearing that."

"How could you forget you were wearing that?" Pepper asked, sounding a little dumbstruck.

Darcy blushed, but mostly managed to ignore the fact that Pepper Potts, the hottest woman in Stark Tower (after Darcy's mate), was checking her out. As was her normal defense mechanism, the intern decided to go with snark. "Well, I think it's mostly because Clint doesn't stare at my chest, and Natasha's still asleep," she said with a slight grin.

Pepper wrenched her eyes back up to a safe location, blushing bright red. "I'm so sorry about that," she said. The CEO cleared her throat. "I uh, so we're planning Tony's birthday party, and wanted to check on everyone's availability, and who would be bringing guests." She glanced downward again but her eyes came back up quickly.

"Oh, that sounds great—although I'm honestly a little terrified at what a Tony Stark party might be like." A thought occurred to Darcy, and she paused for a moment. "It's not a surprise party, is it?"

Pepper looked a little incredulous. "I doubt that would even be possible, not with how hyperactive and unrelentingly curious Tony is." As she spoke, the blonde's eyes fell downwards again before quickly bouncing away.

Darcy felt flattered that Pepper couldn't seem to keep her eyes off the intern's body, but it was also making her feel a little attention shy, so tried her best to ignore it. She'd never really exposed her body in front of other people before—even when Darcy had to change in gyms, she went to the bathroom stalls. She didn't even like swimming that much because of it. The pretend-alpha always had this background worry that someone might find out about her status if they saw too much of her body or for too long, no matter how illogical the idea was.

They chatted about the party plans, and Pepper wanted to know about potential guests and allergy information, and asked for their feedback on different entertainment options. Apparently everyone else was asleep and Pepper really wanted to work on this. The entire time, neither Darcy or the Stark Industries CEO were able to get rid of their faint blushes, but with the exception of Pepper's apparent incapability of keeping her eyes above Darcy's neck, they both otherwise pretended nothing was wrong.

Once Pepper's need for discussion and input was met, she thanked them and left. Darcy slumped against the kitchen counter in relief.

"Oh my god, I thought I was going to spontaneously catch fire that whole time!" she exclaimed from her slumped position against the counter. After a moment, she jumped up, starting to make for the bedroom. "I'd better go change before someone else decides to stop by."

"Wait wait, I need to see how Natasha reacts to you looking like this!" Clint said, holding a hand out in a staying motion, and Darcy paused, frowning in consideration. "Come on, wait just a little bit longer?" When she only continued frowning, the archer compromised, saying, "Okay, what if we take pictures of you like this and then send them to Natasha? I want to see her eyes bug out when she sees them."

A slow smile grew over Darcy's face. "Okay, that's something I can do."

"Yes!" Clint said emphatically with a fist pump.

They grabbed Darcy's phone, and Clint acted as photographer while the young woman posed. The grad student wasn't normally someone who flaunted her body—even if as part of her alpha bravado she'd cultivated a personality that appreciated people thinking she was hot, and also made a point of having a dirty mouth and making suggestive jokes—so it was a little awkward at first. Then the archer told her to think that it was Natasha that she was modeling for, because that's who was going to see these pictures. After that it was much easier, and Darcy found herself feeling more naturally sexy. It helped that Clint wasn't at all attracted to her physically, and she wasn't at all attracted to him, which allowed her to disregard him acting as cameraman—if it had been Pepper taking the pictures, Darcy wasn't sure if she'd have been able to pull it off.


	10. My big scary former assassin mate

Natasha woke up to an empty bed, but it still smelled like Darcy—and alcohol, lots and lots of alcohol. Darcy had apparently come back in and showered and gotten dressed, because the mess of her dressers had been cleaned up and the shower stall was still dripping when Natasha stepped into the bathroom. The beta was an incredibly light sleeper from all her time as an assassin and spy, but she found that she would go back to sleep without remembering she'd woken up when she woke up in a safe situation, like hearing her mate's voice while Natasha was laying in bed surrounded by her mate's scent. The spy would have been unnerved by this new habit, but it seemed like a good change since it was unlikely to work in dangerous situations. Natasha quickly brushed her teeth and then went out to find out how Darcy was faring after her antics last night.

She came out of the bedroom to find Darcy and Clint sitting on the couch in pajamas watching cartoons and eating cereal, with Clint making disparaging comments about the abilities of the show's superhero characters. Natasha paused for a moment to enjoy the scene—the one man who knew her the best and understood her struggles (because he lived some of them too), and her mate getting along like lifelong friends. If someone had found her when she was still back in the Red Room and told her younger self that something like this would happen to her, she would have never believed it. But here she was—a trained assassin, with so much red in her ledger that the whole book dripped ink—feeling warm and domestic.

It also reminded her that she needed to sit down and talk with Darcy, so that way they could get more settled into their relationship and this future domesticity that Natasha wanted to try more of hopefully. She stood up from the wall and said, with teasing voice, "Really you two, the Flash?"

Darcy looked over her shoulder at Natasha with a grin. "Hey you, morning!"

"What's wrong with the Flash? And don't tell me it's for kids—the man literally has to deal with the ethical issues around whether he should try to use his powers to save his mother's life, and has to figure out whether his own happiness is worth enough to cause suffering in others," Clint said, gesturing with his spoon. "Those are more mature concepts than all of the plots of the Fast and Furious franchise, which is supposedly for adults."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at the archer and settled herself down on the couch next to Darcy, who immediately scooted over to snuggle up against her mate. Natasha was very well acquainted with Clint's often hidden love for philosophy and debate. She sometimes wondered if he spent the time that he had to sit still and watch as a spotter or sniper by debating philosophical topics in his head—it seemed like something Clint would do.

Darcy added, "It's not a bad show, although my first choice was Supergirl, because both Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor are _hooooooooooooot_." She held up a spoonful of cereal towards Natasha in offering. "Chex?"

Natasha leaned forward to accept it, but only because Natasha couldn't really say no with Darcy looking at her like that. Cereal wasn't exactly the best choice for food sharing—and as expected, Natasha ended up with a dribble of milk down her chin that she had to wipe off.

Darcy laughed and apologized, adding, "Although, I could just lick it off you if it happens again." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and Natasha only just barely managed to suppress her laugh.

Clint groaned dramatically from his side of the couch. "Can you at least save the licking till _after_ this episode is over?"

Darcy snickered. "I dunno, I might not be able to restrain myself," she said, smiling gamely at Natasha. She turned to look at Clint and pointed to him with her spoon. "We just need to start looking harder for your potential mates so you can have your own person to lick Chex milk off of."

Clint just grunted and chewed his mouthful of cereal. After a couple minutes, he said very quietly, without taking his eyes off the TV, "I already found one."

Both Darcy and Natasha turned to look at him with incredulous expressions.

"What?" he said grumpily. "I can't think about it first?"

Natasha and Darcy only looked more incredulous. Clint avoided their looks for a while, just watching the cartoon, before he finally said, still not meeting their gaze, "It's complicated."

"And you think this isn't?" Darcy asked, gesturing between herself and Natasha, somehow even more incredulous than before.

"Clint," Natasha said earnestly. She paused until he turned to look at her. "What do you need me to do?" she said, feeling like directness was the best way to approach Clint right now.

The archer deflated on the couch, his spoon plopping into the leftover milk in the cereal bowl. "I ... really don't know. I saw him, he saw me, we didn't say anything to each other at the time, and we haven't said anything to each other since," he said dejectedly. "I don't know how to bring it back up, and he hasn't said anything to me about it or even approached me at all."

"And he knows you're potential mates? He caught your scent?" Darcy asked.

Clint nodded glumly. "Yeah, it was ... his reaction was pretty obvious. It was pretty chaotic right then so it wasn't like either of us could really deal with it at the time, but now ...." He let the sentence trail off with a shrug.

Darcy reached over to put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"But you know who he is and where he is now? You have access to contact him?" Natasha asked seriously.

"Yeah, he ... he works at SHIELD, and he's pretty much always in the office. I could probably walk over there right now and talk to him, but I just don't know how." Clint said, setting his bowl down on the coffee table. "It's not like I can just walk up to him and say _hi I know you know we're soulmates and I've been ignoring you this whole time and pretending like nothing's different but now I want to talk to you_ ," he said, sighing and slumping back into the couch.

"Clint," Natasha started to say, just as Darcy said, "Why not?"

Both Clint and Natasha looked at Darcy.

"No, I'm serious—why not just go up to him and say that? Explain why you didn't approach before, but say you're actually interested," Darcy suggested matter-of-factly.

Clint looked aghast. "What?? After I've been talking to the guy for _months_ and have just been perfectly professional and businesslike the whole time?"

Darcy shrugged. "Say you were scared, or that you didn't know how to change things, but you _wanted_ to."

Natasha tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, yeah that would probably work."

Clint frowned at Natasha. "You don't think he'd be angry with me for avoiding the issue all this time?"

"Maybe," Darcy said, shrugging, "but you can't ask for forgiveness if you don't try to talk to him. At least you'll find out if he's been only professional around you because he's not interested, or because he was trying to give you space."

"I uh," Clint started, blushing, "I'm pretty sure he's interested."

"Oh! _Ohhhhhh_ ," Darcy squealed, smirking, "Agent Barton, you sly devil, did you make your potential mate _pop a boner at work_?" She fake-gasped and dramatically put her hand to her chest as if offended.

Clint blushed even brighter. "Not exactly." When Darcy opened her mouth with a look of pure glee, Clint held up a finger in front of her face. "No, I am not discussing this with you," he said firmly.

Darcy fell back against Natasha, clutching at an imaginary mortal wound, and Natasha smiled happily at both of them. Clint noticed the uncharacteristic expression instantly, and he looked at his partner-in-crime with a warm and proud expression.

"Well, it just so happens that I'm going to have to kick you out of here for a couple hours, Barton—it's going to involve talking relationship stuff and licking milk off of each other, so I'm sure you'll want to make yourself scarce. It'll be the perfect excuse to go finally talk to him."

Darcy sat up straight and turned to face Natasha. "Ohhh, is this about last night? How did it go?" she asked excitedly. "Oh my god ... Natasha did you end up sleeping with her??"

Natasha searched Darcy's expression, wanting to make sure that her mate was okay with all of the things she was suggesting, but Darcy only looked like she was thrilled to hear about Natasha's exploits. "No, we just kissed," Natasha said, surprising herself by flushing slightly.

Clint was looking over in confusion at the both of them. Darcy noticed, and said to him, "She went on a date with a potential mate last night."

Blinking, Clint said in surprise, "Oh my god, you found _another_ mate? Now you've got _two_?"

"Yep," Darcy said, grinning, "so you'd better get your ass in gear and go talk to your own mate if you want to catch up at all."

Clint just shook his head and stood up, walking his bowl to the kitchen sink to dump it in, muttering something unintelligible.

Darcy turned back to Natasha. "So, no sex, but yes kissing. Was she a good kisser?" Darcy asked interestedly.

Natasha leaned forward slightly with hooded eyes until she was only a few scant inches from Darcy's lips, not answering the question. Darcy met the change in proximity with a little 'oh' sound, her eyes dropping to Natasha's lips.

"I'm not going to push you if you're not ready," Natasha breathed, fluttering the hair around Darcy's face. "I'll just be here when you are."

Darcy bit her bottom lip, considering for a moment, before saying very quietly, "I can go for a kiss." She inched forward slowly, pausing just before contact for a beat, and then pressed their lips together. Darcy's touch on Natasha's lips was tentative at first, barely more than making contact, then Darcy kissed Natasha more firmly, her lips moving gently against Natasha's.

Natasha let Darcy lead on the kiss, only reciprocating in kind when Darcy tried something new, like only using her tongue once Darcy had licked against Natasha's lips. The kiss was slow and exploratory, but despite that Natasha felt it spark heat through her body and she made soft noises into the kiss. As Darcy started getting more aggressive with her kissing, Natasha bit down lightly on Darcy's lower lip, drawing a moan out of the younger woman.

"Oh, by all that is holy—would you please set the bowl of milk _down_ before you start making out on the couch?" came Clint's aggrieved voice. Darcy and Natasha pulled back from each other. "I mean, I know you said you were going to lick milk off each other, but at least put a sheet down or something before you do that on the couch? Ugh."

"Clint!" Darcy admonished, giggling.

"I'm just going to go get ready, you know, since I have to go impress a man." He waved a hand over his shoulder as he walked into his apartment, closing the door behind him.

Darcy buried her face into Natasha's shoulder, trying to stifle her laughter. Once she'd settled, she lifted up her head and gazed fondly at Natasha. The former assassin started running her fingers through Darcy's hair in a gesture calming to both of them.

"So, I was thinking," Natasha said, "that SHIELD has several resources available to all agents, that I haven't been taking advantage of, but I think maybe I should start. Specifically therapists and phychiatrists." Natasha paused, looking down and frowning. "I have ... a lot in my past, and I know it's unhealthy to keep it buried, and it's something I should probably work through." Natasha looked up to gauge Darcy's reaction, only seeing concern and care in Darcy's expression. "And ... I'm allowed to have a mate come with me, as support," she said hesitantly.

"And you want me there as support? Or maybe Maria?" Darcy asked, her expression open.

"I'd prefer if it were you there, honestly, if you'd like to come."

Darcy nodded. "I'm here for you, Natasha, whatever you need," she said emphatically, looking into Natasha's eyes.

Nodding, Natasha added, "I won't ... there will be some times that I won't want you there, at least not in the room, because there are some things I ... I just don't want to have to talk about with you there, but I'll definitely need someone after the session to be there for me, and remind me that that was all in the past, and that it's not happening now, that it's over."

"I'll be there," Darcy said, nodding.

"And," Natasha said slowly, pausing to thread her fingers through Darcy's, holding their hands together, making eye contact with Darcy, "my mate is allowed the same kind of therapy through SHIELD." She held Darcy's gaze intently.

Darcy blinked and pulled back slightly in reaction.

Before the younger woman could deny or prevaricate, Natasha barreled onward. "I know there are things in your past, things which still hurt you today, and I think it might be good for you if you could talk to someone about it," Natasha said in a pleading tone. Darcy opened and closed her mouth wordlessly. "You don't have to talk to me about it, but it would help to talk to someone, and SHIELD therapists can give you complete secrecy." She squeezed Darcy's hand gently.

"I ...," Darcy started, and then closed her mouth, looking down. "Complete secrecy?" she repeated, then looked up to meet Natasha's eyes. "Even from SHIELD?"

"Even from SHIELD," Natasha promised. "I'll find someone we can trust to keep it all a secret, even if Director Fury squints his one eye even more angrily than normal and demands to see it."

Darcy grinned faintly at the mental image, then her expression fell. "Even if it's ... a big secret?" Darcy asked quietly.

Natasha smiled faintly. "Does it constitute a threat to national or global security? Or potentially harm the lives of lots of people?"

Darcy's mouth twitched, but the movement didn't quite become a smile. "No."

"Then you're probably fine," Natasha said, her voice sure, squeezing Darcy's hands again.

Darcy gave a breathy little chuckle, and then pulled Natasha into a tight hug, burying her face into the former assassin's shoulder. Natasha just held her there, rubbing Darcy's back, not knowing what exactly the underlying cause was but understanding that her mate needed comfort.

Clint stepped out into the common area from his quarters, and within seconds had read the room. Instead of saying anything, Clint simply nodded to Natasha over Darcy's head as the two agents made eye contact, and Clint left the apartment soundlessly. After a while, Darcy lifted up her head, wiping her hand over her cheeks to get rid of the offending wetness there, Natasha reaching up to help her wipe it away.

"Baby," Natasha said softly, "nothing's going to change the way I feel about you—nothing you did, nothing done to you, nothing in your past will stop me from caring."

Darcy just stared at her, looking vulnerable, but not saying anything, and Natasha could guess the argument going on inside Darcy's head.

"Would learning something from my past change the way you feel about me?" Natasha asked—and then the spy had to hold her breath in anxious anticipation. Despite knowing how Darcy felt already, she found herself unable to keep from worrying about the answer at least a little.

"Of course not," Darcy replied immediately and with feeling, dispelling Natasha's inner fear. "Never."

"And that's exactly my answer to you," Natasha said firmly, smiling at Darcy reassuringly. Darcy smiled back—hesitant but at least the smile was there. "Do you feel better about the idea of talking to someone now, knowing that I'll be here for you always?"

Darcy sucked in a shaky breath, then exhaled in a puff. "Yeah," she answered, smiling wryly. "I ... guess it would be good to do it."

"Good," Natasha said, claiming one of Darcy's hands again to bring it up to her mouth and kiss. Darcy smiled genuinely at that, and leaned forward to claim Natasha's lips in a quick kiss.

"Is that what you wanted to talk about when you said 'relationship things' to Clint?"

Natasha nodded, adding, "Well, and some other things that we haven't talked about, like what your boundaries are about physical activities or certain topics, what you're comfortable with or not, how you want to proceed with Maria, if there's anything that about me proceeding with Maria that might make you feel a bit uncomfortable, maybe what you want in the future. Those kinds of things." Natasha nuzzled into Darcy's cheek and planted a kiss there. "We haven't really talked about it yet because I knew you needed some time, but I think we're in a better place now where we can probably talk about it—unless there's something you don't want to talk about right now and then we can push it back."

Darcy nodded. "I think those are things we could talk about now, although just to warn you, I'm probably going to be a little emotional and weepy about it," she said, the last part a little sheepishly. "Especially after all of ... _this_ ," she gestured vaguely in the air between them, "this morning."

"Understandable," Natasha said, running a hand through Darcy's hair again. They shared a smile.

"I also need to tell you," Natasha began, "that I warned Maria to stay away from you without first talking to me or Jane, or JARVIS. So eventually when you're feeling up to it, you can tell me and we'll lift the ban."

Darcy blinked. "You warned her to stay away from me?"

Nodding, Natasha said, only slightly sheepishly, "I ... may have threatened her with bodily harm while holding her immobile against her office wall."

Darcy laughed, open and genuine. "Oh my god, Natasha!" she exclaimed, still laughing. "I would say I couldn't believe it but I can definitely see you doing that—you probably scared the shit out of her, too."

Coughing, Natasha looked even more sheepish. "I did."

Still chuckling, Darcy hugged her mate, running her hands through Natasha's hair playfully. "Ohhhh, my big scary former assassin mate, threatening people to protect me." Darcy pulled back, realizing something. "And then you kissed her!" Natasha tried to look blameless—but it apparently didn't work, because the next thing she knew, Darcy was peppering her face and neck and hair with kisses, chuckling about her big scary beta mate.

By the time Darcy pulled back, Natasha was breathing heavier and was looking a little wide-eyed. Darcy surveyed the affect she'd had on her mate, and said slowly, lips pursed, "Well ... I guess we'd better start talking about boundaries, before we accidentally cross some."

Natasha could only nod.


	11. Maria Hill's new mug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: IM WIGGLING MY EYEBROWS SUGGESTIVELY AT U RN
> 
> psych eval = psychological evaluation  
> Not sure if it's necessary to define and describe this, but just in case it is, basically an agent has to talk to a psychologist or therapist, who then determines their current mental health status, level of mental trauma or hurt, and/or assists with mental health recovery.  
> =====

Maria entered her office feeling restless. Granted, she felt restless any day that she didn't spend any significant time in Natasha's company, which was most days. Since their little date night, they'd only run into each other a few times in group meetings or passing in the hallways. Each time, Natasha would give her these unreadable but strangely intense looks, and Hill didn't know exactly what they meant, but each time Maria would have to fight hard against blushing, and she didn't always succeed. She didn't know exactly how many other people had noticed—she was sure that even if anyone had, that they'd probably have been too intimidated by her position to comment on it, at least to her directly. Director Fury however had noticed, _a_ _nd_ had commented.

"You know we have another SHIELD building assigned for living quarters that has larger apartments," he mentioned casually without even looking up from the papers on the table in her office later that day, like he was mentioning the weather or the disciplinary actions for an agent. Director Fury was the king of deadpan.

Maria set down the files she'd been skimming and looked at him searchingly. "When did you hear about the third?" she asked after a beat.

Director Fury now turned to look at her in obvious surprise—or at least obvious to Hill, who knew Fury's expressions pretty well by now.

"Sir!" Maria groaned, realizing she'd just broken the news to him by saying that. Raising a finger, she said firmly, "You don't know anything about that, sir—it was told to me in the strictest confidence."

"Well," Director Fury said with a hint of a smile, "it's a good thing I told you about those new, larger apartments then."

Maria pushed the papers around on the desktop for a bit, before saying, "I'm expecting we'll probably end up in Stark Tower eventually."

"Things are going well for you then?" he asked.

"Well ... better at least," Hill amended. "Still lots of room for improvement, but better." Maria's thoughts went back to that kiss and how they'd almost ended up doing more. "Much better."

Fury nodded. "Good for you," he said sincerely.

They finished up their normal batch of personnel reviews for the day, and Hill headed down to the lower floors for her duties monitoring the training programs. She passed through the hall on her way to the breakroom, intent on getting herself a coffee before she had to sit down again, and pulled up short suddenly when she recognized a familiar person down a side corridor.

Darcy Lewis.

Even though Maria had only been in her presence for a matter of minutes, the assistant director would recognize the younger woman anywhere. To find her standing in the SHIELD office building was not something that Maria had expected, especially considering how closely guarded she was by Natasha and Dr. Foster—and the AI that ran the entire Stark Tower. Now here the younger alpha was, pacing in obvious anxiety in front of one of the closed SHIELD eval rooms. Maria frowned in concern. She wasn't supposed to talk to Darcy at all, but if Darcy honestly needed help then Hill wouldn't mind facing Natasha's wrath to do so. Maria approached cautiously, waiting for Darcy to notice her before she got too close, and when Darcy didn't Maria cleared her throat.

Darcy spun around to face Maria. "Oh," Darcy said. She only hesitated for a moment, looking at Hill in surprise, before she went back to pacing distractedly. As she paced, she said, "You should probably go before Natasha comes out and gets mad at you—I'm just here to give her support when she's done because she doesn't like shrinks."

Maria frowned again, glancing at the closed eval door. "I didn't know she had a psych eval scheduled."

"Oh, no, this isn't a SHIELD scheduled thing," Darcy said, waving the idea away with one hand, but not slowing in her pacing. "This is because Natasha wants us both to try and work through ... some of the issues in our past, and she's going first." Darcy stopped her pacing and turned to look at Maria, her expression one of frustration. "I just wish I could go in there with her to help her feel better because I know she hates psych evals. I know she'll probably be fine but ... I can't seem to just sit and wait knowing that she's in there and unhappy. It's like ... I _itch_ all over and can't sit still."

Fully aware of Agent Romanov's near-infamous dislike of evals (one of the first items in Romanov's personnel file at SHIELD was about her refusal to take a psych eval after she was brought in, a standoff which lasted nearly a month), Maria nodded. Darcy started pacing again, and Hill wanted to help in some way. "Can I get you a coffee while you're waiting?" she asked, trying to sound like she didn't mind too much one way or the other.

Darcy shook her head. "No, caffeine while I'm anxious is just a bad idea, but thanks," she said distractedly, burning off her nervous energy with pacing.

"What about some hot chocolate? Or herbal tea?"

Darcy paused in her pacing to smile faintly at Maria. "Actually, hot chocolate sounds pretty good."

Hill nodded. "I'll be right back then," she said, and continued on her way to the break room. She didn't waste time once she was there, pulling out the mix and pouring it into her own mug—it read 'shoot first, ask questions later' but with 'shoot' crossed out and 'drink coffee' written instead. She then added one of the creamer packets that were used for the coffee, which was one of her personal cheats to make the crappy instant cocoa taste decent. This creamer packet she chose this time was chocolate flavored, because the powdered cocoa mix didn't actually have that much of a chocolate flavor.

Within a couple minutes of entering, Maria had a decently good cup of hot chocolate. She stirred it till she was satisfied that it was properly mixed, then went back to find Darcy. As she expected, Hill found the other alpha still pacing in the hallway.

"Here, hot chocolate, as requested," she said holding out the mug, stopping a good distance away just in case Darcy didn't want her to approach. "Or I can set it down on the table here, if you like." Maria motioned to one of the many small tables set between the row of chairs that were set out for anyone waiting outside the eval rooms.

Darcy shook her head, striding over to take the mug from Maria's hands. Darcy raised the mug up to her nose and sniffed. "Damn, that actually smells like decent hot chocolate—I'm impressed. I thought SHIELD wouldn't get the good stuff," she said. Then Darcy took a sip and moaned completely unselfconsciously. "Ohhhh yeah, that's good."

The sound made Maria flush—for fuck's sake, that was _her mate_ moaning in a hallway because of hot chocolate that Maria had made for her while drinking out of Maria's mug. It was unaccountably pleasing and also really arousing, and it took Hill a few moments before she was able to respond to what Darcy had just said.

(And damn, if this was Maria's reaction to hearing Darcy in a relatively platonic situation like this, then the assistant director was going to be so screwed. So. Screwed.)

"Actually, they don't," Hill said, managing to bring her thoughts back to the topic of hot chocolate. "I cheated and mixed in a chocolate-flavored creamer—the hazelnut and vanilla ones work pretty good too, depending on how chocolaty you want it."

"Well, I am all for maximum chocolaty-ness," she said, cupping the mug in both hands and sitting down in a chair to blow on it. "My grandma used to make us the _real_ stuff, made from melting chocolate into milk in a saucepan, with some sugar and cinnamon—which I know how to make but usually don't because I'm lazy."

Maria found herself just standing there and smiling at her mate, not realizing she was doing so until Darcy stopped talking. "Uh," Hill said, recollecting herself and pulling her uniform jacket straight, "I should probably get going." Maria cleared her throat and gestured meaningfully to the eval door that Darcy was waiting in front of.

Darcy grinned. "Yeah, before Natasha makes good on her promise of bodily harm. Thanks for the hot chocolate," the alpha said, teasing, with a genuine smile for Maria.

"Yeah," the assistant director said, a little breathless. "Anytime." With that remarkable inability to form words, Maria fled back down the hall towards the break room. Leaning against the counter, she caught her breath for a moment, before digging in the cupboard to get one of the company mugs. It was chipped and well-worn, but Maria didn't mind the fact that she'd given up her own mug to Darcy—in fact, she was rather pleased that she had had the opportunity to do so, and she spent the rest of the day with a smile on her face. It unnerved some of the other agents she ran into, but Hill just couldn't find it in herself to stop.

====

Stepping out into the hallway, Natasha felt simultaneously wrung out and buzzing with energy—her usual state after having to sit through a psych eval. Agent Romanov was just thankful that this first personal session was now finished. She'd had to do an overview of her history with the therapist plus a description of how she wanted future sessions to go—namely that they would involve Darcy and how specifically she wanted Darcy involved—and they'd discussed which parts of her traumatic experiences would be the ones where Darcy should be there. The therapist had had some slightly different suggestions from what Natasha had envisioned, but mostly the part that had been so difficult for her was the fact that she needed to think about lots of different and very painful events in a short amount of time.

Darcy seemed to sense that the spy needed her, because she sat down the mug that she had been holding and carefully guided Natasha into her arms, rubbing her hands over the agent's arms and back while she just held the Avenger close. Natasha shuddered into her mate's hold, and they just stayed there for a minute, taking comfort from the other, until the therapist leaving the eval room interrupted the moment. The doctor introduced herself to the supportive intern with a handshake, then gave Natasha a quick smile and nod, and then she was gone. The Black Widow tried to pull herself together—she couldn't very well go melting into her mate in the middle of SHIELD headquarters. Before she could say they should leave, Darcy held up her mug to Natasha, and the Russian of course accepted the offer.

Blinking in surprise down at the cup once the taste hit her tongue, Natasha said, "That's ... what's that?"

"Actual good hot cocoa," Darcy replied, smiling.

Then the former assassin noticed the mug and narrowed her eyes. She recognized that mug. "Where'd you get that mug?"

Darcy froze like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar—it was incredibly cute actually, and if Natasha weren't so focused on hearing the answer to that question, she probably would have laughed. After a moment of what appeared to be fast-thinking, the intern answered, cautiously, "Well, an angel unexpectedly appeared and blessed me with this fine hot chocolate."

"Hmmm," the spy hummed. "And what was this 'angel' doing down here anyway? Did she bother you at all?"

The taller alpha winced, clearly realizing that her distraction tactic hadn't worked. "Nope, she was actually quite careful and gallant—she offered to set the hot chocolate down at the other end of the hallway so I wouldn't have to approach her."

"Hmmm," Natasha said again, pondering, and starting to lead Darcy back out of the building. When they were outside on the sidewalk, the spy turned to her mate and said, "And did you approach her?"

Darcy blinked in surprise at the question, but nodded.

"So ... does that mean we should start letting her come to visit us at the tower?"

Scratching her chin, the intern gave a one-shouldered shrug. "I don't know actually—I think we could probably try it. If I have problems I can go back to Jane and Thor's room or go read in your bedroom or something."

"Alright, we'll try it."

====

A couple days later, a messenger came up to Maria Hill's office bearing a package.

"But I didn't order anything," she said to herself once the messenger had left, staring at the package suspiciously. The package had already gone through the standard SHIELD security sweep—she could see where the package had been opened up and then resealed with a few stickers, indicating it had passed inspection.

Eventually, Hill shrugged, and opened it up. Out of the box she pulled out a coffee mug, staring at it completely bewildered. The side of the mug read 'I will never say no to more chocolate', with the 'more chocolate' in bright red lettering and underlined. Thinking it must have been mistakenly delivered to her, Maria dug through the box till she pulled out the delivery slip. It looked unremarkable until she got to the personal comments.

_PERSONAL COMMENTS:_  
_Hi Maria,_  
_Since I ran off with your mug, I figured the best thing for me to do was get_  
_you a new one. I hope you like it and thanks for the tasty hot chocolate._  
_-Darcy_

Below Darcy's name was a phone number. Maria just stared at the message and number for a few moments, until she realized exactly what she had now—permission to contact Darcy. She quickly grabbed her phone and punched in the new contact information. Not willing to wait now that she had her hands on it, Hill fired off a message.

> Maria: Hi Darcy, this is Maria. Thank you for the mug, and I'm honored by you trusting me with your phone number.

A few minutes later, she got a reply.

> Darcy: sweet jesus, its just a txt msg not a formal letter
> 
> Maria: Sorry, it's just a habit.
> 
> Darcy: well ms assistant director, its one we're going to break you of lickety-split
> 
> Maria: …  
>  Maria: "Lickety-split"???
> 
> Darcy: oh dont worry, ill be improving your vocabulary in no time

Maria would never admit how long she sat laughing at her desk at that stupid joke. After a while of firing messages back and forth—making Hill wonder if Darcy even worked or if she just texted all day—a knock on the assistant director's office door brought her attention back to work. Glancing up at the clock she saw it was time for her meeting, so she dumped all the packaging material back into the box and dropped it to the side of her desk, saying, "Come in."

The door opened and Director Fury entered with another agent, who looked extremely nervous at having to walk in with the director. Fury's one eye took in the new mug on Maria's desk (causing a raised eyebrow), the box and packaging sitting on the floor (further raised eyebrow), and then the cell phone on her desk, where a message had just arrived in all caps, very easily read even from across the room and upside-down, that said, "IM WIGGLING MY EYEBROWS SUGGESTIVELY AT U RN". If Hill had had any less control over her reactions, she would have automatically face-palmed, but as it was Maria's eyebrow just twitched violently.

Director Fury looked like he was swallowing a smile, and said, completely neutrally, "Ah, the joy of new mates." He handed over the confidential sealed report to her, then turned and clapped the junior agent, Trentson, on the shoulder amiably, before striding out the door.

Maria sat still for a moment before recalling herself and putting the report in her drawer. Looking over at Agent Trentson, still standing there stiffly, she could see that he'd been so nervously waiting at attention that he probably hadn't noticed anything, let alone read the message. Hill flipped her phone face down and asked Trentson to sit. Several times during their review, Maria's phone buzzed, but the assistant director ignored it till the meeting was over.

When they finally got to the end and the junior agent no longer looked like he was about to shit a brick from nerves, Trentson smiled at the buzzing phone and said, trying to be friendly, "You have a new mate, ma'am?"

"I'm afraid that's classified," Maria said with a perfectly deadpan expression.

Trentson seemed like he couldn't figure out if Assistant Director Hill was making a joke or being serious, so he decided to stick with the latter for safety. "Yes, ma'am," he said completely seriously, nodding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, one more thing: I made a couple alternate scenarios that are like little one-shots based on this fic, and they roughly go here between this chapter and the next. Since they aren't exactly part of this fic, I'm going to post them up as one-shot separate works, but link them all together with this work in a series. Those should be posted soon.


	12. Excited, but casually

Maria was excited ... but _casually_.

Tonight was the first night that she was being actually invited to spend time with Darcy—and Natasha too, Maria would never forget Natasha—rather than just continuing to accidentally run into her. This time, Darcy would be prepared, and there would be no rush, no other audience, just her mate. Mates, _b_ _oth_ of them. So Maria was excited. Natasha had made a point of discussing things with Hill prior to the meeting tonight, to make sure that the assistant director knew that she needed to act casual and not make things a big deal, because Darcy would probably be more comfortable that way. If things got too much for her, the intern would leave to recuperate before coming back. Maria definitely wanted to spend time with Darcy and didn't want her to ever feel the need to leave while Hill was there—hence, excited but _casually_.

Being excited probably didn't exactly help with trying to be casual, but Maria couldn't help it. She had two incredibly beautiful women as potential mates, and she was going to spend time with them. _Tonight_. Naturally, this meant that Maria spent way too much time in front of her wardrobe, going over possibilities and trying to determine which counted as casual, but not so casual as to seem like she didn't care. Since it was proving to be such a difficult mission, she did what was standard SHIELD operating procedure, and called in backup.

"Phil!" she said, reaching out and grabbing his suit by the collar. "We have a mission." She started dragging him out of the training room where he'd been supervising, without bothering to look back at Coulson's face, calling over her shoulder. "Connolly, you're supervising. Report to Yang when finished."

Once she'd gotten him back to her place, and explained to him the issue, Agent Phil Coulson said flatly, "Casual."

"Yes," Maria said seriously, nodding.

Phil continued, completely without inflection, "You pulled me off duty, dragged me to your apartment, because you need help determining what 'casual' is."

Maria could sense the impending sarcasm, and grabbed Phil by the collar again, pulling hard until they were nose-to-nose. "She's my _mate_ ," Maria said. " _Two_ of them. Two mates. And I need to be casual. When you find your mate, and you learn just how badly you want to do whatever it takes to make them happy, _then_ you can come back to me and snark about it." Maria released him and stepped back.

Phil made one, and then two, very slow blinks, before he nodded seriously, looking completely convinced. "Ok," he said, turning back and looking at Maria's clothing with a very businesslike expression, "we need casual."

It took a surprisingly short amount of time with both of them putting their heads together, discussing the pros and cons of each piece. Was it comfortable? Did Maria like the way it looked on her? Eventually they settled on a henley, bomber jacket, black pants, and boots. They'd almost gone with jeans, but Maria didn't often wear them and the only ones she had were a bit too tight to be comfortable if she was going to be sitting around for a while—and she was probably going to be sitting on the couch or in chairs for a few hours at least, so she didn't want it to become a problem. Her black pants were a bit on the dressy side, but were extremely stretchy and comfortable, and her henley and bomber jacket dressed the pants down. Phil agreed with her on that point.

In any case, now that Phil was 100% on board, they both approached the the sort-of date tonight like two generals preparing for battle—and since both Phil and Maria had some experience with large-scale combat, this was no joke.

Shower, hair, a touch of makeup, clothes, equipment (aka purse, cell phone, and keys)—Maria was geared up and ready. Phil gave her appearance a once over, and ran the checklist on her gear, and then nodded. "You are cleared for go," he said seriously.

Maria nodded, all business, and went to the door to leave, when Phil stopped her with a hand on her arm. "You're doing the same for me when I need it," he said, although his tone was seeking confirmation.

"Absolutely, Phil—you just let me know."

Coulson looked at her for a moment before speaking. "It'll be sooner rather than later."

Maria couldn't help the bright smile that lit up her face. "That's great—congratulations, Phil."

The man looked a little sheepish, but was smiling, happy. They nodded to each other and both left Maria's apartment, each going to a different location.

====

When Agent Phil Coulson stepped back into his office, he expected that he was going to have to make up for some of the work he missed, and stay late to do so. What he did _not_ expect, was for Director Fury to come striding into his office looking distinctly displeased not fifteen minutes after he'd gotten back.

"And just what _mission_ is so important that it requires both the assistant director _and_ the lead for agent assignments, and yet I know nothing about it?" Fury demanded, looming over Phil's desk and peering at Phil with his one good eye.

"Sir," Agent Coulson acknowledged, sitting straight up in his chair—and then, despite all his years of being quick of wits and tongue, Phil Coulson failed to come up with an explanation that didn't sound absolutely ridiculous.

Fury just stared at him for a moment, before raising both his hands up to rub at his temples. "Oh for the love of ... not you, too. I thought you hadn't _found_ your mate yet."

Agent Coulson squirmed in his seat every so slightly, but Director Fury still caught it and pinned him with his mono-gaze. "Technically it was just about Maria's mate," Phil said.

"Which one?" Fury said, still glaring.

Coulson gave the director an incredulous and slightly offended look, as if he would ever divulge information about Hill's mates—which he didn't actually know, so that helped—and said nothing.

"Good," Fury said, smiling with his one eye, and strode from the room.

====

Maria took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She only had to wait a few moments, and the door swung open to reveal Natasha beckoning her inside. The Black Widow looked sexy as always, and Hill took a moment to just appreciate this sexy spy-assassin mate, before her attention was necessarily taken by her other mate—the one she'd never really gotten to talk with much before.

Maria smiled brightly, and said, simply, "Hi."

Darcy blinked in surprise—by what, Hill wasn't sure, maybe her outfit or her smile?—but she also smiled back, which eased Maria's mind. Reminding herself not to overwhelm Darcy, Maria turned back to Natasha and engaged her in conversation. Thankfully, it wasn't hard to talk to her spy mate, and Hill just would make sure to include Darcy with small comments or smiles, but didn't ask her anything directly. After the first few minutes, Darcy starting jumping into the conversation on her own—like Maria had noted on their second interaction, Darcy was extremely talkative—and soon the younger alpha was pretty much running the conversation, and Hill and Natasha were just along for the ride.

Neither of them appeared to mind. Eventually, they sat down to eat in front of the tv, and Darcy ended up on the opposite end of the couch from Maria. That was fine though, because she still got to sit next to Natasha—who seemed to be thrilled about sitting between _two_ mates, if her dilated eyes were anything to go by, though the famously poker-faced spy showed nothing in her expression. Hill accidentally started thinking about sexual activities with the Russian between the two of them, and quickly had to stop before her problems started to become visible, instead turning her attention to the tv.

The date night was going well so far—spectacularly even, from Maria's point of view—and Darcy seemed relaxed and openly gregarious. When the younger alpha went to the bathroom at one point, Hill had leaned over to Natasha and asked for her assessment, and the spy had agreed that things were going great with Darcy, but reiterated that the intern should be the one taking the lead for pretty much anything touch- or physical closeness-related.

Darcy got back and continued her running commentary of whatever they were watching, which was both amusing and also cute enough to fully distract Hill from her libido. When they finished, Maria offered to take all their plates back to the kitchen, and dropped them in the sink. Turning back around, she was surprised—in a very good way—to see that Darcy had gotten up from her end of the couch and was sniffing intently at the spot where Hill had just been sitting. Maria groaned and had to grip the countertop tightly when she saw Darcy open her mouth to taste the air on her tongue. The assistant director's pants started feeling tighter, so she definitely needed to wait exactly where she was until Darcy was done and her libido had calmed down a bit. It would be fine. Everything was fine. Maria could handle this.

She was not expecting though, for Darcy to get up from the couch, and after having a brief but silent conversation with Natasha using only their eyes, she started walking towards the kitchen at a fairly slow but deliberate pace. Hill rapidly began revising her previous assessment—maybe Maria _couldn't_ handle this. Darcy stopped when she was a few paces away and sniffed the air obviously. The assistant director's hands clenched on the countertop tighter. Nope, she definitely could _not_ handle this. Maria held herself perfectly still, but her breathing increased until she was nearly panting as Darcy stepped closer, and then closer again, until she was right at Maria's shoulder.

By sheer force of will, Hill did not move, but her nostrils were flared and she could scent Darcy's nearness. Moving ever-so-slowly, the younger alpha leaned forward and up, until she had her nose right next to the collar of Maria's shirt at the base of Maria's neck. When Darcy inhaled, Hill could feel the air moving against her neck, and the assistant director whimpered. The sound seemed to spur Darcy on, who gripped the back of Maria's shirt with one hand, and then the younger alpha pressed her nose to Hill's neck.

A shudder ran through Maria's entire body and she moaned—surprising herself with how loud it was. The assistant director wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, Darcy breathing into Maria's neck, and Hill making embarrassing noises—in Maria's opinion—when suddenly Natasha was there next to them. The beta wrapped her arm around the assistant director from the other side, her find clenching in Darcy's shirt—the younger alpha managed to get a hold of Natasha as well, and then both of them started scenting Hill's neck. Maria's hips bucked unbidden into the air, fully aroused now.

"Too tall," Darcy panted into Maria's skin. "Couch, now."

Hill could only nod and made another embarrassing whine, but both of her mates helped her make it to the couch.

====

Natasha woke up feeling a strange mixture of comfort, satisfaction, and discomfort. She ran through her normal mental checklist when she woke, remembering what had happened before she sleep, where she was, who she was with. Opening up her eyes, she found the source of her discomfort—a lump of discarded clothes on the couch under her—and comfort—her two mates sleeping with her, limbs all tangled together.

Maria and Natasha had gotten too riled up for anything but sex to resolve—or masturbation, but they each had a partner right there so sex was definitely preferable—and had made wild love on the couch. Darcy had already told the spy she was fine with the two of them having sex, even with Darcy right there, and that she would join in as needed, so last night the younger alpha had rubbed against them and joined in touching them while Maria and Natasha had made passionate love, but the intern had kept her pants on—touching her back above the belt was okay though.

Natasha found the warm things next to her face to be Darcy's breasts, and she had the sudden urge to take them in her mouth like she'd done last night. The Russian had definitely orgasmed more than once last night—and that was the source of her current satisfaction—but suddenly she was feeling frisky again. She turned her head to look over at Maria, and found the poor alpha still deeply asleep. Natasha might have felt bad about wearing her out last night, but it had been fun, and now the Avenger couldn't claim to have any regrets with a straight face. She probably should let Hill sleep though, and that meant Natasha really needed to not have Darcy's amazing breasts within mouthing distance.

She slowly wriggled herself free—both her mates were surprisingly determined graspers in their sleep—and then took a few gulps of air that wasn't filled with the scent of mates and sex. Honestly, it wasn't a _bad_ scent, but when Natasha was trying to keep it in her pants, well, that particular combination of scents was not helpful. Getting up and stretching, she walked around and picked up the clothes that had been flung about the room, setting them on the back of the couch for when the two alphas woke up. A soft not-quite noise alerted her, and she spun around—seeing Clint pop his head in through the front door. Clint glanced at the pair on the couch and smirked, but then he turned a more serious look on Natasha, and without any other cues the former assassin knew that shit was about to go down.

She nodded to her partner and went into the bedroom to gear up—luckily she kept multiple emergency kits at the ready, so the spy just grabbed one, put on basic coverings, and then softly padded back out. She thought about trying to kiss her mates, but figured they'd probably both latch onto her if she tried, so instead Natasha satisfied herself with a quick note on the whiteboard on the fridge, and trotted out after Clint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another mate is coming soooooooon ... :D


	13. Hey what's shaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: three small and very important words

Darcy woke up to movement, and at first she thought it was Natasha, but then she heard Maria's voice talking quietly on the phone. The sleepy intern pulled herself upright and then looked down, noting the lack of anything on her chest, and several thoughts rolled through her head—why did Darcy keep waking up topless or nearly topless? Was this going to be a thing? This was totally going to be a thing, wasn't it?

Blinking, Darcy tried to focus on the one-sided conversation she was overhearing, but couldn't make much out other than that it was serious. Maria hung up the phone and walked over to kneel in front of the couch and kiss Darcy gently.

"Baby, I gotta go—we've got some kind of supervillain causing earthquakes downtown, and we can't figure out who it is or where they are," Maria said, standing up and starting to throw her clothes back on.

"I think we need to get some better nicknames—everyone's using 'baby'," Darcy said, wincing slightly when she found out that her filter was once again disabled this early. She sighed faintly—mornings just weren't her thing.

Hill seemed to find this highly amusing however, and smiled widely at her. Darcy threw on her shirt, not wanting to let Maria run off this quickly.

"Can I at least walk you out of the building?" Darcy said hopefully, standing up.

Maria seemed about to argue, but then her expression softened. "Alright, but ... don't leave the building, okay? It's safe inside here, and JARVIS will keep you updated on everything."

Darcy nodded quickly, accepting the terms, then she grabbed her phone and chased Maria out the door. Once they were in the elevator, Darcy pulled Maria into a hug, wanting to get some good cuddles in while they weren't moving. She was almost tempted to ask JARVIS to slow down the elevator, but knew her mate probably wouldn't approve so she refrained.

"I want you to be safe out there," Darcy said, her voice somewhat muffled in Maria's jacket.

"I will," the assistant director promised, and although Darcy couldn't see her mate's face, she could hear the smile in Maria's voice.

Far too soon for Darcy's tastes, they reached the lobby, and Darcy walked out with Maria until the lobby doors. Maria turned and looked briefly back at Darcy, her expression intense, like she wanted to say three small and very important words, but thought it was too soon.

"I know," said Darcy, understanding what her mate wanted to say, "now go."

Darcy stayed down in the lobby for a while, first watching Maria jog along the street towards SHIELD headquarters, and later just watching the city. She inquired on the status of the Avengers and the deployed SHIELD agents with JARVIS, but time seemed to pass so slowly. She was able to watch a few live broadcasts over her phone, but most news stations didn't have a good view of the action. This wasn't one of those more visible enemies that was easy to identify and follow—apparently none of the Avengers or SHIELD agents had managed to figure out who the person causing the earthquakes was.

The building had been quietly shaking intermittently all morning, and then gradually Darcy noticed that the earthquakes were increasing in strength. "JARVIS? Is that ... getting closer?"

"I'm sorry Ms. Lewis, but I don't have enough information to confirm that. The shaking does seem to be getting stronger though. Perhaps it would be best if you took cover?"

"Right," said Darcy, recognizing good advice when she heard it. She crawled underneath the reception desk, which was in the center of the lobby, and because Tony Stark liked open plan settings and clear plexiglas, she could see everything basically as well from under the desk as she could standing up near the window.

The strength of the earthquakes definitely increased, and she couldn't reach JARVIS anymore after a while. Darcy was pretty terrified at that point and was just looking around wide-eyed at everything—and that's when she noticed a girl running by the floor-to-ceiling lobby windows, looking just as terrified as Darcy felt. Something compelled her to go out and get that girl, maybe coax her to wait out the earthquakes with Darcy in relative the safety of Stark Tower.

Getting up on shaky legs, Darcy went to the doors and pushed them open, glad for once that the front doors to the building weren't automated—so they couldn't get stuck not working by whatever had knocked out JARVIS' power. Darcy jogged over to the edge of the alley where she'd last seen the girl running, and peered down it. She thought she saw movement, so Darcy started walked down the alleyway, stepping gingerly over things that had fallen over in the shaking. Darcy heard a sniffling noise, and saw that the girl was sitting against the alley wall behind a dumpster, crying.

"Hey," Darcy said in her best soothing voice, crouching down and holding out her hand to the crying girl. The girl looked up at Darcy in surprise, and the intern could see that the girl probably wasn't all that much younger than Darcy herself was, maybe 19 or 20. Darcy smiled reassuringly.

To Darcy's surprise, the girl tried to shrink back into the wall, saying in a desperate voice, "No! Don't come any closer, it's not safe."

"Shhhh, it's okay—I'm here to help, I promise." Darcy got even lower, crouching down on her knees, and slowly extending her hand forward. "I'm not gonna hurt you, and I won't let anyone else hurt you." She didn't really know why, but Darcy really wanted this girl to trust her and let Darcy help her.

"I- ...," the girl started to say, looking confused. Her eyes darted back and forth between Darcy's face and outstretched hand.

"Just take my hand, and I can help you," Darcy said, inching slowly forward, hoping that no earthquakes happened that might startle this terrified girl before Darcy could coax the girl into her arms.

The girl slowly raised one of her hands a little, and Darcy smiled encouragingly, "Yeah, just like that—just put your hand in mine." Just a few more inches ... and then Darcy's hand made contact with the girl's. Slowly and gently, she pulled the girl away from the wall and into her embrace, holding the girl close. Then she got a whiff of the girl's scent—and _oh fuck_ , this girl was _another_ one of Darcy's potential mates. Judging by the wide-eyed stare of the girl in her arms, the girl had noticed the scent too. Darcy could tell instantly that this girl was an omega—a frightened omega—and her heart went out to this poor girl even more than before.

Dary said soothingly, "Shhh, baby, I've got you now—let's get you inside where it's safe, okay?"

The girl seemed still stunned by Darcy's scent and she only nodded, so Darcy helped her back onto her feet, and guided her back to the front entrance of Stark Tower, one of Darcy's arms wrapped around the girl's back. The girl seemed a bit wary of entering the building, but when Darcy said that she lived here, that she worked in one of the labs, the girl allowed herself to be brought into the lobby.

"Damn, I really hope the elevators are working, because I live pretty high up and I sure as hell don't want to take the stairs," Darcy quipped while they waited for the elevator to come down, hoping to lighten the mood. A smile flickered over the girl's expression, which was a good sign to Darcy even though the expression didn't last. "I'm Darcy by the way—Darcy Lewis. What's your name?"

The girl shrunk into Darcy's side, clinging more tightly to her, and Darcy rubbed a hand over the girl's back to comfort her. After a few moments, the girl finally said, in a small voice, "Skye."

It was the first time Darcy had heard the girl's voice not sound terrified, and Darcy couldn't help but smile in response. "Well, nice to meet you, Skye. As long as you don't mind my sarcasm and bad jokes, I think we'll get along fine," Darcy said, smiling down at her—Darcy didn't think Skye was all that much shorter than her really, but the girl was hunched down and making herself smaller against Darcy's side, obviously seeking safety and comfort.

Skye looked up at Darcy with a hint of a smile on her face. The elevator pinged its arrival, and Darcy let out a relieved sigh, saying, "Oh thank _god_ , quick let's get in before it changes its mind." Skye snickered softly.

The elevator ride was punctuated by Darcy telling Skye amusing stories of Tony Stark and his antics—which Darcy knew were damn good stories that she had used many a time when she needed to distract someone. The best one by far was when Darcy taught Tony's least favorite robot Dummy how to play fetch, and then let Dummy into Stark's lab when the man wasn't paying attention. Tony had spent the entire afternoon wondering where his tools had gone and why Dummy kept finding them and leaving them at his feet. She'd gotten JARVIS to download the internal video feed of the incident to a thumb drive to prevent Tony from trying to erase its existence.

"Here we are! Home, sweet home," Darcy said jovially, as she pulled open the door to the apartment she shared with Natasha—it hadn't occurred to Darcy to take Skye anywhere else. Skye peered around the apartment with interest, but she seemed to show no sign of wanting to let go of her grip on Darcy's tee shirt—in fact, one hand was fisted into Darcy's shirt with a white-knuckled grip, letting the older woman know just how scared Skye still was, despite her outward semblance of calm. "Normally, I'd offer to give you a tour, but since it's been a rather busy morning, what if we just sit down on the couch for a bit, hmm?"

Skye nodded, so Darcy guided them over to the couch, sitting down right in the middle of it. As soon as they sat down and Skye opened her eyes up wide, sniffing the air intently, Darcy suddenly remembered what she and her mates had just been doing on that couch the night before. "Oh, yeah—sorry, I forgot about that. The other two people you smell are my other mates."

Skye had turned her head and was sniffing at the back of the couch intently, although she hadn't otherwise moved from her position on the couch or loosened the hold she maintained on Darcy.

"I'm guessing I'm the first potential mate you've met," Darcy said, smiling a little sheepishly.

Skye nodded, and then the new omega surprised Darcy by volunteering, "Another alpha ... and a beta."

"That's right," Darcy said, smiling encouragingly. "The alpha is Maria and the beta is Natasha—this is actually technically Natasha's apartment, but I'm over so often that we pretty much live together now. Maria is sorta new to the relationship and she hasn't moved in yet, but I'm hoping we might get there in the near future. I also have my own apartment on the next floor up that I share with my good friend and also the person who runs the lab I work in. Natasha shares this apartment with Clint, who is a good friend of both of ours. Clint's also a beta, but he's not one of our mates."

Darcy start to talk about Natasha and Clint, and the habits of the people she worked with in the lab. Skye gradually scooted her way closer to Darcy until she was curled up in Darcy's lap with her head buried in the crook of Darcy's neck. "Hey, I'm getting kind of hungry. Have you had breakfast yet? Because I haven't."

Skye looked anxious and clung a little tighter to Darcy, as if worried that the intern might make her let go. Darcy prompted, "I think I've got some leftover pizza and Chinese food in the fridge, or a few different types of cereal. Do any of those sound good?" That seemed to be the right thing to say, because Skye popped her head up to look at Darcy intently.

"Chinese _and_ pizza?" she asked, and Darcy laughed.

"Cutie, you can have _whatever_ you want. Why don't we go dig through the fridge and we can see what looks good?"

They made it over to the fridge without Skye once letting go of Darcy. The intern could tell that eating would probably be a problem if Skye didn't want to free up her hands, so she grabbed various utensil options and they carried it all—plus a pizza box and a couple boxes of Chinese takeout—over to the coffee table. Darcy urged Skye to sit back in Darcy's lap again so that way the younger woman might be more inclined to use her hands for eating if she didn't have to worry about holding onto Darcy with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that was a Star Wars reference (I also write femslash for that fandom too :D ).


	14. Tired, dirty, and confused

Tired, dirty, and confused, the Avengers filed into the largest conference room at SHIELD HQ, finding it already packed with similarly tired and dirty SHIELD agents. Director Fury held the relative order of the room with nothing other than his gaze, and once everyone was inside, he proceeded to have the mission overwatch commanders give an update. When none of them could figure out who or what the cause of the quakes was, or who stopped them, Fury started questioning the Avengers.

In a pause of silence, a disembodied voice cleared its throat. Fury's eyebrow twitched. "If I may, Director Fury?" JARVIS' voice came through the room speakers.

"I didn't realize you were connected to the SHIELD systems, JARVIS," Director Fury said, somehow not sounding mad despite how angrily he was glaring at the ceiling.

"I wasn't until recently, Director, but I believe I may be able to shed some light on the current confusion, so I worked to form a connection using the equipment available in this room and Sir's suit hardware."

Tony's eyebrows lifted up to his scalp in surprise, but before he could say anything, Fury gave him a glare—Tony just held up his hands in surrender.

"Well JARVIS," Director Fury continued, "please go ahead and tell us who stopped these earthquakes, since we can't seem to figure it out for ourselves."

JARVIS made a suspiciously self-conscious throat-clearing noise. "Very well, Director. Before proceeding, I would like to make it exceedingly clear that the person in question is perfectly safe and sound and currently in her quarters," JARVIS said pointedly, then continued after a pause, "but I have reason to believe that the person who stopped the earthquakes is Ms. Lewis."

"What??" Assistant Director Hill said, looking up in shock.

"What?!" said Natasha at the same time, bounding up from her seat and looking like she was about to go storming out of the room, but before she could do so JARVIS hurried on.

"Agent Romanov, you may wish to stay, at least for the next five minutes, to understand the situation completely? Especially since, as I said, Ms. Lewis is in no current danger, she is currently sitting in your quarters eating breakfast and watching television."

Natasha slowly settled down into her seat again, saying warily, "Alright, five minutes."

Director Fury asked pointedly, "JARVIS, don't we need to invite Ms. Lewis to come and sit in on this meeting?"

"I'm not sure that would be helpful, Director Fury, as I don't believe that Ms. Lewis is currently aware that she is the reason the earthquakes have stopped, mostly because she is otherwise distracted, although I am fairly certain that this idea will occur to her sooner rather than later. But, seeing Agent Romanov's impatience, I'd like to describe the events as I saw them. During the active earthquake period, Ms. Lewis was sitting under cover in the lobby of Stark Tower, when she saw through the lobby windows a young woman run by outside. My communication hardware in the lobby was unexpectedly disabled from the shaking, so I wasn't able to remind Ms. Lewis to remain inside the building for safety, and Ms. Lewis chased after the young woman, I believe with the intention of getting her to come into the building and get under cover."

====

Natasha stormed out of the room at the end of the meeting—every time that she had tried to leave the meeting before, JARVIS or Director Fury had stopped her, and she was extremely anxious to get home now. Whoever this new girl was, even if JARVIS said that she was probably one of Darcy's potential mates, she was an unknown quantity and had been _alone_ in a room with Darcy for likely hours. Natasha had conflicting desires to see this new potential mate but also protect Darcy, and Darcy was her highest priority.

After JARVIS had announced to the room about Darcy and both Natasha and Maria had reacted, it hadn't taken the rest of the room long to put two and two together and understand that the three were mates. The spy figured it probably would have come out eventually, and she didn't blame JARVIS for it—the AI had been stuck in a pretty tight spot—but it did mean that now she would have to deal with people being in her business. And Natasha never liked having people in her business.

"Hey!" Tony said, catching up to her and holding out a hand to try and slow Natasha down. The Russian knew she wasn't going to like whatever he had to say to her, but she slowed down slightly and glanced over at him. As she'd predicted, Tony said, with his standard Tony-smug grin, "Let me just be the first to say congratulations."

Natasha stopped and turned to face Tony fully, considering whether to hit him—she had had _a day_ , and her _mate_ was potentially in danger right this very moment—but Tony must have recognized what was about to happen, and promptly danced away from her. Smart man. Natasha simply turned and continued on her way to the elevator bank, jabbing at the call button and mostly ignoring the conversation going on behind her while she waited.

"But I was nice this time! I was trying to be nice!"

"Oh honey." That was Pepper's voice. "You can't just run up to her when she's obviously stressed and on a mission."

"But my words were nice! I used nice words!"

"Tony, she probably didn't even hear what you said—all she probably saw was your smug face in hers and wanted to punch it. Honestly, that's the response I have sometimes, too."

"I didn't look smug—I was looking normal. Completely normal Tony face. No smug face."

"Honey, you _always_ look smug. You have resting smug-face."

Natasha almost smirked at the exchange, but thankfully the elevator arrived just then, and Natasha wasted no time in stepping inside, punching the ground floor button. She felt the air movement of someone following her into the elevator, and she spun around to put the fear of death into them as well, only to find that it was Clint and Steve. Of all the Avengers, these were the two who both seemed to understand Natasha the best—Clint for obvious reasons, but Natasha was still unaware of whatever motivated Steve Rodgers, though she suspected it had something to do with the still-missing Bucky—and who regularly sought out her company in a way that did not leave Natasha annoyed or pissed off.

She gave both men a searching glance, and then settled against the wall of the elevator as the doors closed and they started to descend. Both men were sort of mated—Clint in limbo as he worked up the nerve to talk to his mate, and Natasha was pretty sure that Steve was mates with Bucky, and that that was how Steve had managed to snap Bucky out of his mind control. The Winter Soldier was still on the loose, but at least he was no longer with Hydra. There had been explosions recorded at known Hydra locations, and then explosions at buildings that SHIELD had been unaware of, but when they'd investigated the aftermath SHIELD had found the locations full of dead Hydra agents. No one knew if Bucky was being captured and escaping, if he was taking out Hydra bases on purpose, or if there was some other agent at work here. Bucky certainly didn't have the monopoly on hating Hydra, even among super-soldiers.

They hit the ground floor and Natasha was moving as soon as the doors opened. She had perfected the ability to move quickly while not giving the impression of moving quickly or appearing to run, so Natasha looked like she was walking to everyone else—except that Clint and Steve had to trot to keep up. Eventually, Natasha gave up her ruse and trotted too, because it didn't exactly work if Clint and Steve were trotting next to her.

When they reached the Stark Tower elevators—there was an elevator already waiting for her, Natasha suspected that JARVIS had called it earlier for them—and Natasha pushed the button for their floor, she said to Clint, "You won't be able to come in for a while."

Clint nodded. "Don't worry. I have my backups and I probably should try to spend some time with my own mate."

Natasha nodded, a bit apologetic about pushing him out of his own place, but both Clint and she had issues with never really belonging to a place. The two of them obsessively kept caches of equipment, clothes, and other necessities in various safe locations, so they never really relied on their apartments, even if they spent most of the time there. The Black Widow knew it was indicative of a larger problem or troubled past, but it was one of the remnants of her time in the Red Rood that Natasha didn't actually mind keeping all that much.

"I was going to see about getting some food for everyone," Steve volunteered into the silence of the elevator. "Send me your requests once you figure them out."

Raising at eyebrow at Steve, Natasha wasn't really surprised that Steve was trying to be helpful. She just hadn't anticipated exactly what form that desire to help would take in this particular instance. She nodded at him. They finished the rest of the elevator ride in silence, and then Natasha stepped out, noting with approval that neither man tried to follow her out.

The Russian redhead very briefly thought about knocking on her apartment door to warn the two inside that she was coming in, but that would give the impression that it was a stranger, so instead the spy just opened the door noisily and slowly, giving them lots of time to react and hopefully calm down. If this girl could really cause earthquakes, and if Darcy was still sitting on the couch trying to comfort her, then Natasha _really_ did not want to startle anyone.

She opened the door to a beautiful sight that the spy hadn't been expecting—although considering everything, maybe she should have—and hadn't adequately prepared for. Darcy's brilliant smile greeted her, and while that was normally enough to take Natasha's breath away already, it was combined with this startlingly pretty girl curled up under Darcy's chin, apparently sleeping peacefully. The Black Widow knew that sleeping people tended to look even more attractive than normal, but this girl was just stunning. The spy knew in that moment that she was already a goner.

"Hey baby," Darcy called softly. "Glad to see you're back and okay."

Darcy's words reminded Natasha that she was still standing in the doorway and staring, so the Avenger closed the door softly behind her and padded over to the couch cautiously.

"I think she was just really worn out—I don't think she's been eating enough lately," Darcy said, continuing to speak in a low voice, gesturing to the remains of their 'breakfast' on the table by way of explanation. Darcy reached out to Natasha as soon as she got close enough, so the beta leaned forward to greet her mate with a soft kiss.

"Well Steve is already ordering more food, so if you just give me your requests I'll pass it on."

"Do you know what type of food he's getting?"

"I think he was waiting for _your_ input, honestly."

"Oh," said Darcy. "Normally, I'd go for pizza or Chinese, but ... maybe burgers and fries? That's comfort food, right? I know it doesn't travel well—bread combined with things that are wet never do—but we have extra buns in the pantry so we should be okay."

"I'll tell him."

Their low volume conversation seemed to have been too much for the girl, because she stirred and opened her eyes, blinking around in confusion.

"Hey, cutie," Darcy greeted, brushing some of the hair out of the girl's face. "We're getting some more food, are you hungry? Or do you think you could eat some more?" The girl's eyes went immediately to the Black Widow and stuck there. "Oh, remember the beta I was telling you about? This is her. Skye, this is Natasha—Natasha, meet Skye."

At Skye's sleepily adorable gaze, the spy smiled unbidden. "Hi, Skye."

"Hi," Skye said, and Natasha found herself smiling even broader in response.

This close, Natasha could see all the dirt and grime covering the girl. Turning to Darcy, she said, "Baby, I'm going to go tell Steve what you want, and maybe you and Skye should get yourselves cleaned up while you're waiting. Maybe take a shower?" She gave Darcy a quick kiss and then went to go grab her phone where she'd left it on the kitchen counter when she came in.

Natasha kept the two in the periphery of her vision to keep an eye on things, but tried to not make it look like she was watching closely—because honestly having people stare would make anyone nervous. She texted back and forth a bit with Steve while Darcy tried to talk Skye into taking a shower. the Russian could tell that the girl's reluctance seemed to stem from her desire to not let go of Darcy at all, but Natasha didn't know if it would unnerve the girl to say so and instead opted to stay silent. Darcy negotiated with the girl like the professional scientist-wrangler that she was. Noticing that Skye had seemed fascinated by the clothes draped over the back of the couch, the intern bribed her with Natasha's shirt, saying Skye could wear it after she took a shower. The omega girl seemed to want something of Darcy's too, so the alpha added her jacket to the negotiation, and then Skye finally agreed and the two went into the bedroom.

Natasha started picking up the mess in the living room, since she and her mates had left clothes and leftover containers lying around. It definitely looked like they would all need to get their own apartment together soon, otherwise they'd squeeze Clint out of his space—the archer might even want that soon once he got together with his potential mate. Natasha still didn't know who said mate was, other than that they worked at SHIELD at were male, but she had no doubt Clint would tell her when he was ready.


	15. Unless the world is ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter is kinda short (but hopefully still good).

In the bathroom, Darcy worked on getting Skye to agree to let go so they both could get undressed and shower.

"Skye, look," Darcy reasoned, leaning back a slightly so that way the shirt that Skye was clinging to was no longer against Darcy's skin, "you're already _not_ touching me, see?" Darcy gestured to the space between her body and Skye's hand. "Why don't we have you try not touching me, and I'll sit right here for you. If something bad happens and you really need to touch me again, then you'll be able to reach out and grab me right away. Okay? Trust me, it'll be fine—you'll be fine. I have faith in you."

Skye shook her head weakly as if still unconvinced, but gradually she began loosening her grip, until the shirt fell from her hand and fluttered back against Darcy's body. Skye stood there for a moment, hand still outstretched as if transfixed. The longer the younger omega stood there without any visible problems that Darcy could see, the more the smile grew on Darcy's face. After a moment, Darcy gestured to the younger woman with one hand, saying, "See? You got this."

Skye let out a sharp exhalation of disbelief, sounding almost like a sob. "I ... it's ... working," she said, sounding incredulous. "No ... no shaking, ... no earthquakes."

Darcy suddenly put the clues together about what Skye just said, her mind whirling at the implications and possible repercussions. Now the way that Natasha had stared at them cuddling on the couch started to make a little more sense, and why Steve had wanted to find out what Darcy's input was first on food.

Skye looked up at Darcy then, and suddenly Skye's face fell, the younger girl abruptly leaning forward to start sobbing into Darcy's shoulder.

Darcy's heart sank. "Awww, sweetie," she said soothingly, rubbing Skye's back, "you don't have to do this right now if you don't want to. I'm sorry I was trying to push you into it when you're not ready."

Skye pulled back, shaking her head and dashing the tears from her eyes. "No, no, you don't understand—it's working! You were right, I don't have to keep holding you." Now Darcy could see that the younger omega's tears had been in relief, not sadness, and the intern smiled as her worry drained away. Skye blinked up at Darcy. "I mean ... I _like_ it, but ... I thought I needed it for control."

"Well, whenever you need me for more control—or for any reason, really—I'm right here. All you have to do is ask."

Skye smiled at her wetly but genuinely, and Darcy smiled back.

"Do you need me to come in the shower with you? Because I need to take one too—I wasn't outside except for all of five minutes, but I just woke up not that long ago and should probably take one."

Pausing in the act of pulling her shirt off, Skye gave Darcy an intense _look_ , that made Darcy feel both incredibly turned on and like she was being closely scrutinized. Darcy's mouth formed a silent 'oh'. Skye didn't answer, but continued pulling off her clothes to get in the shower. Darcy went to pick them up and throw them in the hamper for the wash, noticing that the clothes weren't dirty just from one day of running around outside—the clothes were covered in _old_ dirt, like Skye had been living rough for some time and hadn't had regular access to a washing machine.

It made Darcy feel extra protective and want to take Skye out clothes shopping like _yesterday_ , but the pretend-alpha reminded herself that even though Skye seemed to trust her, they had only just met a couple hours ago. Instead Darcy acted like she hadn't seen anything unusual and, dropping the clothes in the hamper, said, "I'm going to put these in the wash and grab you some clean clothes. Any preferences? Just something comfortable?"

"Um, yeah," Skye said hesitantly, "just whatever you have is fine."

"Okay. Hey JARVIS, are you working now? Can you explain how the shower works?"

"Of course, Ms. Lewis. Only the downstairs speakers were rendered offline, and on this floor my interaction hardware is fully functional," JARVIS' voice drifted down from the ceiling.

Skye's head snapped up in surprise on hearing the AI's voice, wide-eyed and staring upwards.

"Oh, that's the building AI, JARVIS. You can ask him any questions for anything you need while you're here. Or if having someone talk to you while you're naked in the shower makes you feel uncomfortable, then you can tell him to stop talking and just wait till you get out." Darcy winced, saying, "I had to do that a few times when I was super hungover and JARVIS' voice just ... I don't know, I just couldn't listen to anything at that volume and not feel sick." Darcy shrugged.

When Skye indicated that it was fine, JARVIS started explaining the functions of the shower—there were a _lot_ of controls for it—and Darcy watched for a second to make sure Skye was ok, and then continued out to the bedroom to dig up some clothes.

====

Natasha could hear some of what was going on in the bedroom, and almost went in to see if she could help when she heard Skye start to cry, but since it hadn't lasted long, she decided that Darcy had it handled. Instead, she pulled out her phone and started passing along info to Maria.

The Assistant Director had made eye contact with Natasha just as the spy was making to leave the conference room at the end of their post-quake team meeting. Though they hadn't said anything, Maria had nodded to her, and Natasha took that to mean that the alpha's assistant director duties prevented Maria from leaving right away but that Maria was relying on Natasha to head back home and make sure everything was okay. Natasha had taken her mission very seriously, and now that she had made sure that everything was okay, she wanted to update Hill so she wouldn't worry—or at least worry less.

Nat: all clear

Maria: Thank god  
Maria: You're staying there?

Nat: unless the world is ending, yes

Maria: Good.  
Maria: I should be done soon, and I can come right over. Is that ok?

Nat: yeah, you can come over  
Nat: …  
Nat: by the way, she's really cute and we are so fucked

Maria: What?? Who?? I thought you said all clear

Nat: no danger, I mean this girl is really cute  
Nat: maybe even cuter than darcy  
Nat: I didn't even think that was possible

Maria: !!!

Nat: yeah, me too  
Nat: her name's skye  
Nat: also pretty sure she just confirmed that she's the cause of the earthquakes  
Nat: it sounds like she was unable to control that ability until darcy physically touched her  
Nat: so keeping her calm is probably a high priority  
Nat: just fyi

Maria: Well, it's good to have confirmation at least.  
Maria: I'm never going to have normal mates, am I?

Nat: I want you to know that you just made me laugh so loud that darcy had to come out of the bedroom and check on me  
Nat: also, you don't want normal mates

Maria: Bedroom????

Nat: get your mind out of the gutter  
Nat: darcy's getting clean clothes for skye and skye is in the shower  
Nat: darcy thinks skye's probably been living on the streets  
Nat: she wants to take skye shopping asap

Maria didn't respond after that, and Natasha guessed that she'd probably been sucked back into work, so instead the spy started looking at the available apartment list that she'd had JARVIS send her. Now it was even _more_ important to move into a bigger place, since if Skye didn't have a home she would need to move in with them sooner. Or at least the Russian would work really hard to try and ask Skye to move in with them sooner, because there was no way in hell Natasha would be okay with their omega mate living on the street. It went against every bone and instinct in her body.

Since there was nothing else to do, Natasha made plans—that was kind of her thing while she was otherwise bored. She made contingency plans in her head as she waited, just in case a mission went south. She made alternate escape route plans when stalking a new mark. And now she was making clothes shopping plans, plotting out the various stores that were relatively nearby and had good security, as well as grocery and meal plans. Clint would probably veto half of the meal plans, but it was good practice for her anyway, and it wasn't like Clint was around all the time to cook. She also made secondary apartment plans in case Clint wanted to come with them to the new apartment—there were whole sections of Stark Tower devoted to family living spaces, and some of the pack areas were interconnected.

Looking over all the family floor plans in Stark Tower, Natasha guessed that Tony really had just been too chronically lonely as a child, and that was why he was now always thinking about and prioritizing having family around. It wasn't the first time the idea had occurred to her, and was probably also the reason that every single apartment in Stark Tower was over-stocked. Natasha was glad that Tony had Pepper at least, but if anyone needed a big pack to wrap around them, it was probably Tony Stark, and she hoped he found more of his potential mates soon—even if Tony was kind of annoying sometimes.

In any case, Natasha could get a big apartment with more than one bedroom—including one of the bedrooms equipped with an extremely large bed—but with a connecting door to another apartment. When they wanted privacy they could close the door, but otherwise they could leave it open and have easy contact between Clint's pack and Darcy's. (And yes, Natasha considered this Darcy's pack, since the younger woman was very obviously the heart of it.)

Natasha selected a couple of the larger apartments to show to Clint later as options, and then went through some of JARVIS' selections for moving dates and furniture options. Soon enough her phone pinged with a message from Steve, saying the food was here. He offered to bring it down, so Natasha poked her head in the bedroom to warn Darcy, then told him it was okay. When he made it up to their floor, he dropped off a bag on the counter, and Natasha looked inside to find ... a lot of food.

"There are seven burgers in here," Natasha stated, leaning back from peering in the bag and raising an eyebrow in Steve's direction. "We don't all eat like super soldiers, Steve."

The Captain shrugged with a smile. "I'm sure someone will eat them." With that he gave her a jaunty two-fingered salute and left the apartment again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, are we halfway?? OMG, we're only halfway through this fic, that means this thing might turn out to be like 30 chapters! WHUT


	16. So our packs can grow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: Skye hi
> 
> Why yes, I do like puns.

Skye lifted the shirt to her nose and inhaled deeply. That was Natasha's scent, but other than the one time Natasha had gotten close to give Darcy a kiss, Skye hadn't actually gotten a scent from the source. Just the shirt—and the couch, oh man _the couch_ —smelled good though, so Skye couldn't imagine how good it would eventually be when she could finally curl up in Natasha's lap and wrap the other woman's scent around her like Skye had done with Darcy's.

She'd lingered in the bathroom while Darcy was getting undressed, wanting to see her mate—and also blushing incredibly hard. Darcy had smiled at her but hadn't tried to do anything about Skye's interest, which Skye found gallant and also a little bit frustrating, because her mate was drop-dead sexy and she definitely wanted to tap that. And Natasha was even _sexier_ , which Skye found was almost incomprehensible. When she'd woken up in Darcy's lap with Natasha standing right next to them, she'd almost thought she'd died and gone to heaven. Skye had had to remind herself there was even _another_ mate—Skye's mind was already blown with just the two she'd met.

Darcy was in the shower now though, and as much as Skye would like to just stand there and stare through the glass at her mate washing her sexy naked self, Skye had had a really, _really_ bad morning, and she sort of just wanted to melt back into the couch again. She'd already put her clean clothes on—plus Natasha's tee and Darcy's jacket—so she decided to wander back out to the front again. As she stepped into the living room, the smell of food assaulted her nostrils, and against all expectation, Skye found herself getting hungry again. Natasha was sitting at the island in the kitchen with a pad in her hands that she was playing with, but the amazingly sexy beta looked up as soon as Skye walked in, and smiled at her.

"That smells really good," Skye said hopefully. She'd heard Darcy talking about getting food earlier, but Skye hadn't said yes at the time, and the young omega didn't really know if any of the food she was smelling would be for her. It's not like Skye was used to getting given things by strangers—at least not ones who didn't want something from her in return, sometimes in unpleasant ways.

But Natasha just looked pleased at the comment, and opened up the takeout bag on the counter, pulling out boxes. "Are you ready to eat again? Steve brought us an unconscionable amount of food, so I don't know how we're going to eat it all."

Skye found herself pulled forward by the promise of food, and came up to rest her hands on the counter as she watched Natasha pull everything out.

"Let's see ... we've got a double bacon cheeseburger, an avocado burger, a bacon ranch burger—oh, I bet that one is for Darcy, I'll put that one to the side—three regular cheeseburgers and a regular burger. What do you feel like having?"

Skye stared at the assortment. It had been a while since she'd had this much food put in front of her that was available for her to eat. "I ... don't know?" she said, a little bewildered. "A cheeseburger sounds good."

"Okay," said Natasha, pushing one of the boxes towards her and then putting the rest back in the bag to keep warm. "We also have bacon and avocado in the fridge, and sauces, if you want to add anything to it."

"I think it'll be fine just like this," Skye said hesitantly, sitting down in one of the stools and opening up the top of the thin cardboard box. Skye's eyes flew open. "Wow, this is _huge_."

Natasha chuckled. "Don't worry—if you can't finish it we'll put it in the fridge."

Skye nodded, and started eating. The cheeseburger was just as good as it smelled, and had fresh tomato and lettuce on top. Skye ended up picking out the slices of onion and pickle though.

"Don't like onion or pickle, huh?"

Skye wrinkled her nose. "Not in a burger, and never raw onions. Cooked onions are great, but raw is kind of overpowering." Natasha nodded. "You're not hungry?" Skye asked after she'd taken another bite, noticing that the beta hadn't pulled out a box for herself yet.

"Not just yet—I'll probably wait for a bit," Natasha said, glancing back down at her pad. "Right now I'm looking at apartments and furniture, because we're thinking about moving to a new apartment soon."

"Oh?" Skye asked, looking around the current apartment. "Why do you want to move? This seems like a really nice apartment."

"It is—but we need more space. That room over there is Clint's, and me and Darcy share the one you were in, but now Clint just found his potential mate, and if both you and Maria come over it could get crowded in here pretty fast. We both are going to need room for our packs to grow."

"Oh," Skye said, a little overwhelmed. It felt like Natasha might be implying that she wanted Skye to move in with them, or that she was at least thinking about it for the future. Skye was already feeling a little shaky and overwhelmed before this happened, before she'd even found Darcy let alone any other potential mates, and thinking about moving in with them, or staying with them—well, that almost made her feel like she was going to cry. It wasn't that it was bad, it was just too much all at once, and Skye had already cried plenty of times for one day by this point, so she tried to put that as far from her mind as possible.

Instead Skye asked, in an attempt to distract herself, "Who's Clint?"

Natasha smiled warmly. "He's my working partner—he's saved my life a few times, and I've saved his. We're not related, but he's basically like a brother to me. Clint's out helping Steve with something, but he'll probably be back later." Natasha got up to go walk over to a door next to the fridge, which ended up being a supply cupboard or a pantry. "You want something to drink? I think I want some juice."

"Juice sounds nice," Skye said, wondering what kind it was but not wanting to impose by asking.

"Let's see ... we've got an apple-grape juice blend, or this kiwi-mango monstrosity that Darcy can't get enough of."

"I heard that!" Darcy called from the bedroom, apparently now out of the shower. Skye grinned.

Natasha didn't exactly smile, but her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Oh, whoops! I mean to say, this delicious blend of kiwi and mango and other tropical juices, that is probably ridiculously expensive and yet not actually made with all that much real juice."

"I can still hear that!"

Skye giggled.

"I mean, it's-"

Darcy poked her head out of the bedroom, still toweling off her wet hair, interrupting Natasha. "Lady, I've got a wet towel and I know how to use it!" She waved the towel menacingly at the redhead beta and then stopped, smelling the air. "Oh, whatever that is smells good." Darcy quickly wrapped her hair up in the towel and walked over to the kitchen.

Plopping herself onto the stool next to Skye, she leaned over to give Skye a kiss on the cheek. "Hey cutie, how's your burger?"

Skye blushed. "S'good," she answered around a mouthful.

"Don't forget to eat your fries too," Darcy said, stealing a fry and popping it into her mouth.

"Hey!" Skye objected, pulling her tray away from Darcy jokingly.

Darcy just laughed, and started digging through the bag on the table.

"There's a ranch burger in there if you want it, not that you'd really have to choose just one—Steve brought us _seven_ burgers."

"Damn, Steve, overdo things much?" Darcy said into the bag as she dug around. "I mean, I suppose we should expect Mr. Captain America to overdo things in general, but still. Maybe he just thinks everyone eats like he does."

Skye blinked. It sounded like Darcy just implied that the Steve that had brought them food was _Captain America_. But that couldn't be right.

Natasha caught Skye's blank look and grinned. "Yes, she means Steve as in Steve Rodgers, also known as Captain America."

Skye made an embarrassing squeak of surprise, although it was mostly muffled by the burger in her mouth. Darcy laughed and gave her a one-armed hug.

"Don't worry—you'll get over it. I was the same way when I first got here and found _Steve Fucking Rodgers_ sitting in the Avengers common room reading a goddamn paper with a cup of coffee in his hand, like it was the most normal thing in the world. Granted, I didn't squeak all cutely like that," Skye lightly slapped at Darcy's arm, "but also granted, that was _not_ the first superhero I met. That honor goes to His Royal Biceps-ness, Thor."

"Who you promptly tazed," Natasha added, pointing a finger at Darcy over her starkpad.

Skye put her burger down, mouth hanging open in shock—in the back of her mind, Skye was thankful that she'd already swallowed the bite of burger in her mouth. "You _tazed_ _Thor_???" she asked in disbelief, turning to gape at Darcy.

"What? He _surprised_ me!"

Skye was still having trouble processing that. "But you _tazed Thor_."

Darcy waved the idea away. "Eh, he got over it."

Before Skye could argue the point further, the door to the apartment opened, and another woman walked in. She wasn't as drop-dead gorgeous as the other two women already seated at the table with Skye, but she was good-looking and she also had a certain no-nonsense way about her that Skye found decidedly attractive.

As if in response to Skye's musings about the newcomer, Natasha got up from the table and wrapped the woman in a hug with a kiss. "Hi Maria," she said, smiling.

"Hi baby," Maria said, looking pleased at the greeting. Maria turned to look at Skye sitting at the table, and Skye blushed a little under her gaze. "And you must be Skye."

Skye nodded, feeling suddenly self-conscious, like she shouldn't be sitting at the table, but when Maria only commented on how good the food smelled, and Darcy just handed her a burger, Skye felt herself relaxing again. Quietly, she went back to eating her food as Natasha also pulled out a burger for herself, and just listened to the three women's easy conversation. Hearing the voices of the three women helped in calming Skye significantly, to the point where it didn't take long before Skye was feeling more relaxed, and also really tired. They were passing some wet washcloths around to wipe hands and face—they even handed one to Skye—and then Natasha was showing everyone the apartments she had found and wanted to get everyone's opinion.

Maria tried to pass and let Darcy and Natasha decide, but Natasha leveled a finger at the taller alpha and said, "I'm not asking you to make a final decision, just give me your opinion on it. Do you like big windows? Do you want a separate room to be a home office? Four bedrooms, or one big bedroom with two smaller ones?"

Darcy had a mischievous look on her face, and said, "Yep, this is Stark Tower, where you have LOTS of options! Do you want a walk-in closet, or standard wardrobes? Do you want a separate closet for your shoes? Do you want a special fridge just to store your cheese? Do you want a robot that pops out and irons your underwear while you're in the shower?"

By the time she finished, Skye had had to put the last of her burger down because she was laughing too hard. "Stop it, Darcy! I can't laugh that hard or I'll throw up—I'm already way too full."

Darcy gave her the most not-innocent innocent look the omega had ever seen, and Skye laughed again.

Natasha looked over at Skye, and said, "You know, you don't have to finish that—in fact, if it's been a while since you've eaten this much food, you can make yourself sick if you try to stuff yourself. It'd be better if you just save it and eat it later."

Skye looked down at the last bit of her burger in consideration, again trying to think if she were able to eat any more. It felt wrong to leave anything uneaten, but if Natasha said it was fine, then the omega believed her.

Skye looked over at Natasha, and nodded, leaning back from her box-turned-tray in wordless invitation. Natasha smiled and took the tray, closed the top back down, and then put it in the fridge. "And you can just go and get it out whenever you want it, whenever you feel hungry again." Natasha sat back down at the island and handed the washcloth to Skye to clean up. Once Skye had finished, Natasha triumphantly pushed her starkpad across the table to sit it in front of Skye, saying, "And now you can give me your opinion too!"

Skye glanced up warily. "It's not my apartment."

Natasha nodded, "Nope—it's mine. But you three are probably going to be in it a lot—at least, I'm going to invite all you to be in it a lot, and I hope you'll come—so I want to know what you think."

Natasha sounded so earnest, and the logic behind her intention sounded reasonable, that Skye just nodded and then focused her attention on the starkpad. She tilted her head to the side, recognizing the style of graphics that were used to show the apartment layout. "Is this made with Constructa 12?" Skye pressed her fingers to the screen, pinching and zooming and twisting. "Yeah, look—this layout is in 3D. I bet they even have an autoplay feature that will walk you through the apartment." She tapped a few options and then scooted the pad closer to Darcy. "See?"

"Damn, how'd you do that?" Darcy asked, watching the automated tour in wonder.

"Oh, I've worked with this software before. This is one of the standard features, so pretty much everyone uses it."

"Wow," said Darcy, sounding awed.

Natasha was smiling at Skye, looking almost proud for some reason. "Well, if you want a tour, then the real thing is probably better—we can just go walk into the apartments and look at them."

Darcy nodded, and then leaned forward conspiratorially to Skye, stage-whispering, "And I can show you the fridge just for cheese."

Skye was fighting a smile. "No, I think I'm way too tired for that right now. Do you think ... is it okay if I just sit on the couch? Maybe take a nap?" A nap sounded heavenly right now, but she'd been kicked out of places before for sleeping, so she knew how to get a moderate amount of rest just sitting there and pretending she was awake.

"Oh honey, I bet you are—I'm feeling like a nap myself. I had these two keep me up late last night and then wake me up way too early this morning."

Hearing that reminded Skye that _she_ had been woken up in a very unpleasant way this morning, and the terrifying events that had followed it. The angry man yelling at her to get off his property—she could still smell his awful breath. The earth shaking, people running and screaming, knowing that all this chaos was from _her_ but unable to stop it. Then people running around trying to find her, government agents with guns, reminding Skye unpleasantly of the shadowy paramilitary agents that had held her captive before she'd managed to escape. And more people, superheroes, flying around in the sky, using some kind of seismic detector that could pinpoint the epicenter.

Fortunately it hadn't been accurate to a high enough degree to find Skye—it couldn't pinpoint a single person, more like a few city blocks. It was enough to scare the shit out of Skye though, with all those agents and superheroes swarming the streets, and she'd fled, crying, running as fast and as far away as she could get. There had been a _lot_ of other people crying and running, so it wasn't like she'd really stood out.

Skye was pretty sure that the agents she'd seen today weren't members of the group that had captured her, although it wasn't like shadowy paramilitary organizations exactly flashed their credentials when they were abducting girls off the street. The fact that the Avengers were there made it more obvious this newer agency was unrelated, so at least she knew that they were the good guys. Skye had still been terrified of being caught by them, but mostly because that meant facing the consequences of what she'd done. She was just one terrified girl, causing probably millions of dollars worth of property damage because someone scared her. Once she'd woken up scared, she had been unable to stop the shaking once started, so instead Skye had tried to run.

Now, sitting in this beautiful apartment surrounded by three beautiful women, just remembering it made Skye feel like she couldn't breathe, crushed under the weight of her terror and sadness. She couldn't sit here and joke and laugh and pretend everything was okay. The only thing she could probably do was cry, and Skye had already cried too many times today—she didn't want to do it again—so instead Skye just closed up, trying to keep it all inside.

Darcy—thank god for her—seemed to realize something was up, and said, very gently, "Come on, Skye, let's go lay down."

Skye couldn't talk right now, not without letting out some of her emotions, so instead she nodded. Natasha and Maria seemed to not notice what was going on between Darcy and Skye—distantly Skye wondered if they might be doing that on purpose, but she definitely didn't have the bandwidth to process that thought right now—which made it less difficult to walk out of the room and into the bedroom.

Numbly, she let Darcy help her out of her clothes, although when she reached for the jacket, Skye held on to it tightly. "Baby, you won't need the jacket to have my scent next to you—I'll be there next to you in the bed, and I'll even scent-mark your pillow for you if you want." The explanation penetrated Skye's hazy confusion, and she nodded, finally letting Darcy take the jacket. They both stripped down to shirts and underwear—Skye turned town the sleep shorts Darcy had offered her—and then Darcy peeled back the sheets and helped her in it.

Skye suddenly felt nervous, and held onto Darcy's arm tightly. "You won't go anywhere ... right?" she asked, trying not to sound desperate, but all the years of living alone made her worried that her mate might somehow not be there later, if she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

"I'll be right here," Darcy promised seriously. "Even if I can't sleep, I'll just go sit on the couch and watch TV till you wake up, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sleep."

Reassured, Skye nodded, and then scooted over to the center of the bed so Darcy could crawl in. As soon as the alpha had settled next to her, Skye wrapped her arms and legs around Darcy and buried her face in the alpha's neck. Darcy whispered soothing nothings and rubbed gentle circles on Skye's back, and with the scent of Darcy calming her further, Skye gratefully fell asleep.


	17. Darcy's shopping trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: [narrator voice] It did indeed become a habit

Darcy woke up from her nap a couple hours later, finding herself wrapped up in blankets and Skye. Smiling fondly at the sleeping younger woman, Darcy wondered exactly what she'd done to deserve having such amazing people around her. Settling back down into the bed and Skye's arms, Darcy enjoyed the moment, until she started to get restless. Judging by Skye's deep and even breathing and the way she didn't so much as twitch when Darcy freed herself, Skye was probably going to be asleep for a long time. Darcy wondered when the last time was that the young omega had gotten a full night's sleep. It must not be easy trying to get sleep when you don't have a safe place to do so.

Stepping out into the living room, Darcy found not just Natasha and Maria but Clint there as well, going over apartments. "Are you guys _still_ trying to decide if you want the cheese fridge?" Darcy asked, her voice crackly from sleep.

All three of them looked up at her and grinned, and then two pairs of eyes dropped down to what Darcy was wearing and stayed there—and Darcy thought, oh shit, not again. Darcy hesitated for a moment, and then sighed and looked down at herself. Sure enough, Darcy wasn't wearing pants—although she gave herself credit for not being topless or nearly topless this time. Going bottomless was at least a change of pace. Looking back up again, Darcy noticed that both Natasha's and Maria's eyes seemed much darker than before, and Darcy flushed bright red.

Clint was trying not to laugh, but was only partially successful. "Darcy, you seem to making a habit of this."

Natasha seemed to rouse herself, and turned to look at Clint with a frown, as if demanding an explanation with her eyes.

"Maybe I should just invest in sexier sleep clothes," Darcy said. Maria choked a little and turned bright red.

"I don't know—you seem to be doing pretty well with what you've got," Clint said, his eyes twinkling with mirth. Maria made a sound that could only be taken for agreement.

"Speaking of showing off what you've got—how is _your_ sexy wardrobe doing, Mr. Barton?" Darcy asked, waggling her eyebrows at him roguishly. "We've gotta get you prepped to meet up with your potential mate." Darcy walked over to the kitchen and plopped herself down on one of the stools.

Just as Darcy had hoped with that line of questioning, Clint flushed red. Natasha seemed to smell blood in the water too, and grinned at the archer.

"Hey-" Clint started to say, one finger upraised, but Darcy didn't let him finish.

"I've already got my mates figured out—although who knows, there might be more out there—but _you_ need to catch yours still, get his attention," Darcy leaned across the counter towards a surprised Clint. "Don't you want to make him yours?"

Clint swallowed hard. "Um, yes," he said.

"Good! Then let's look at clothes for you—oh! We could make it an outing!" The intern bounced up and down excitedly in her seat. "I need to take Skye clothes shopping too—although not for the same reasons. She just doesn't have any clothes. I'm not going to dress her up like a sex doll," Darcy said, snorting her dismissal of the idea.

"Are you going to dress _me_ up like a sex doll?" Clint asked, alarmed.

Darcy pursed her lips in thought, and Clint looked increasingly alarmed. "I mean ... no? But we should probably get you one or two things like that—clothes that make it seem to your mate like all time has stopped and nothing else exists in the universe right now except your fine ass which _suddenly he needs_ _in his hands_ _right the fuck now_."

"Oh," said Clint. He considered this for a moment. "Yeah, I think I can approve of that idea."

"Mostly I just want to get you some nice looking clothes that make you look good that you could wear to various kinds of situations in case of any surprise dates."

Clint was nodding along as Darcy talked, and then glanced over Darcy's shoulder. He started playing around with some sauce packets sitting on the counter and said calmly to Darcy without looking up, "Don't move suddenly or anything, but without changing your body position, try to look behind you at your two mates."

Darcy turned just her head and neck to look over her shoulder, and found both Maria and Natasha with completely dilated eyes staring fixedly at her ass while the intern was leaning over the counter. Smiling cheekily, Darcy said to them, "Well, I'm glad to know that you like my _assets_." Then she gave her butt a little shake.

Both women jerked their eyes up and spluttered at being caught, which Darcy found _hilarious_ and burst out laughing. She never thought she'd ever see the day when Natasha was embarrassed and red-face and couldn't string more than two words together in a coherent fashion, but here they were. Maria she didn't know as well, but Darcy was having fun with her reaction, too.

"I guess this means I probably have to put pants on before I go outside," Darcy said with a pretend moue once she'd gotten a handle on her laughter.

"Yes, please," Maria said, sounding slightly strangled.

Darcy smiled mischievously at Maria, and stalked dangerously around the counter until Darcy was standing next to her. "So nice and polite—I have just the reward for you." She leaned forward until they were practically within kissing distance, and said in a low voice. "I have _pictures_."

Maria made a whining noise in the back of her throat.

Darcy leaned back and said in a perfectly normal tone of voice, "I'm gonna go grab some pants." She promptly turned and skipped off towards the bedroom.

Clint was doubled over the countertop in silent laughter, and Natasha just pointed a finger at him, which only seemed to make him laugh harder. Maria was still red-faced but was recovering enough to join Natasha in glaring at the still laughing archer.

Maria's phone pinged, and she pulled it out to look at it. "I have to go," she said with a sigh when she read the message.

"Ok no, wait!" Darcy said urgently, hurrying back towards the kitchen. "I know I was just a tease and that was kind of mean but I didn't get to say goodbye to you this morning and I was really worried about you and I can't let you run off without doing this." Darcy said all this in a single breath while running up to Maria, and then pulled Maria into a passionate open-mouthed kiss. When she finally pulled back, Darcy cupped Maria's face in her hands gently and said, "I know it's too early to say other things right now, but I just want to say that I really care about you and I want you to come back safe."

Maria looked blissfully stunned at first, but gradually her expression shifted to a wide, happy smile. "I feel the same way about you, and I'll definitely be back safely. I'm pretty sure this isn't going to be a field mission—I'll probably just be sitting behind a desk and/or talking to people." She brushed back some of Darcy's hair with tender fingers. "You take good care of Skye."

Darcy nodded, smiling. Then Maria grabbed a kiss from Natasha and went out the door, but not before Clint said, pretending to sound hurt and offended, "What about _my_ goodbye kiss? Huh, huh??" Maria just waved at him and left.

====

When Maria had seen the message on her phone, and who it was from, she knew exactly what was going to happen, although she hadn't said anything to her mates because it was a private matter and not her story to tell. As Hill walked down the street, she glanced at the most recent messages again.

> Coulson: Time to call in that favor
> 
> Maria: Office?
> 
> Coulson: Yeah
> 
> Maria: On my way.

When Maria got there, Phil Coulson was sitting behind his desk and sorting paperwork as if it were just another normal day. It wasn't until after the assistant director had closed the door and sat down in front of the desk that he finally set down his work and looked at her.

"So," Phil started, sounding serious, "I'm going to tell you what's going on, and I'm pretty sure by the end of it, if not long before, you're going to know who my potential mate is, but I'm going to trust you with this information." Maria nodded, as serious as Coulson. "Honestly, the only reason is because I can't figure out what to do, and I can't ask for advice properly without giving you the whole story—but since you owe me a favor now, and probably we're going to be getting closer because of the entire 'newly mated and asking for advice' situation. Don't worry, that part will make sense when you find out who he is."

Hill was still working with too little information, but she understood what was expected of her and agreed.

"Great," Phil said, exhaling in relief. "So, it all started when I shot him in the leg ...."

Maria listened the entire time without interrupting the story, except for once or twice where she needed clarification, but by the time Coulson finished, Hill was smiling. "Well, I know exactly who your mate is, and as you now know as of yesterday—I happen to have not one but two ways to find out what he likes."

Phil nodded emphatically.

"Also, I have inside information for you that I just got before I came here," Hill said, leaning forward over the desk slightly. Phil mirrored her movement on the other side of the desk. "Darcy Lewis is going to take him out clothes shopping, some of which will be, and I quote, 'clothes that make it seem to your mate like all time has stopped and nothing else exists in the universe right now except your fine ass which _suddenly he needs right the fuck now_.'" Maria reached a hand forward over the desk to pat Coulson's shoulder and said, with a wide smile and a pat in time to every other word, "You are going to be so screwed."

Coulson swallowed hard. His voice slightly higher pitch than normal, Phil said, "Well, I guess I'm going to have to step up my game then."

Maria nodded. "And I know just the right gifts."

====

The next morning Natasha was pulling clothes out to wear when she heard soft rustling in the bed behind her. Turning around, she saw Skye blinking up at her, looking bewildered.

"Hey there baby, how are you feeling?" Natasha asked, her voice soft and warm.

"Um," Skye said, lifting a hand to rub at her eyes. "I don't know?"

"Well you just slept for about 18 hours, so I'm not entirely surprised that you don't know how you feel yet." Natasha sat down on the edge of the bed. "Are you hungry?"

Skye blinked. "Yes?" she answered, clearly unsure.

Natasha grinned. "Ok, just take your time finishing waking up, and I'm going to leave some pants here for you." Natasha set some of her comfy sweatpants on the bed. "When you feel like it, come out to the couch and then we'll get you some breakfast. Darcy's already commandeered the remote and she's on a Supergirl marathon."

Skye smiled as soon as Natasha mentioned Darcy's name, her whole face lighting up. "Yeah?" she asked, still blinking blearily but now moving about with more energy and purpose as she pulled the covers back and picked up the pants.

"Yeah, and if you're feeling up to it, I think she wants to take both you and Clint shopping."

====

Clint was still a little unsure how exactly he had allowed himself to get roped into this shopping trip, but Darcy was nothing if not persistent. He actually felt a little sorry for Natasha and Maria. Once Darcy felt comfortable enough in the relationship and hit her stride, they were both going to be wrapped around Darcy's finger.

Clint still wasn't sure where Skye would fall, whether she would be wrapped around Darcy's finger too, or if she would end up doing the wrapping. He had only just met her that morning, when she'd stumbled out of Natasha's bedroom with only one eye opened, and dropped herself into Darcy's lap on the couch. She hadn't seemed to even be awake until Natasha put food in front of her, and then she became more animated. Now they were walking down the mall with Darcy between them, and Skye was again quiet and reserved. Clint suspected that this probably had to do with her recent trouble with her powers, which was admittedly an objectively scary thing. Darcy managed to coax some smiles out of her, and some opinions on clothes, and the new omega seemed happier now, if still quiet. Then it was Clint's turn.

She dragged him into store after store, going through the racks, enlisting the help of the well-paid staff—they were shopping at the expensive places, it was easier since they could just throw Tony's card around—and soon enough, Clint was trying on dozens of items. He would parade around in front of Darcy and Skye with each outfit, and at first only Darcy was commenting. Gradually, Skye started giving her input too, although Clint could tell she wasn't all that big into fashion herself. It was at least fun for her though, getting to tell him what looked good, laughing with both him and Darcy when something failed.

After Clint had gotten bags and bags of clothes, Darcy went back to some of the stores for Skye, now that she was loosened up. She still seemed really shy when she was showing what she tried on, but Darcy told her she didn't have to show them anything unless she liked it enough first in the stall. That seemed to help, and quickly enough they left with several bags of clothes for Skye too.

Darcy was walking between Clint and Skye, an arm through each of theirs, when suddenly she stopped in front of a store and stared at it. Clint hadn't been paying attention, but he turned to see what Darcy was looking at, and then blanched.

"Oohhhh, no," Clint said. "No no no no. We're _not_ going into a sex toy store."

"You mean oh _yes_ ," Darcy said enthusiastically. She practically skipped into the store. Clint stared at all the window displays, and then turned to look at Skye. The young woman was staring at the displays in a sort of horrified fascination.

Darcy popped her head back out of the door. "Oh, come on you two—I need to get a present for Tony to say thank you for him letting us use his card," she said, and then retreated back into the store.

Clint sighed. "Well, I guess I can't say no to that." He turned to Skye. "You don't have to come in if you don't want—I know you're still new to Darcy, but when she gets excited she can be a bit ... much," he said diplomatically.

Skye did a little snort-laugh of incredulity. "You mean that _wasn't_ her being excited?"

"Not exactly," Clint hedged.

Surprisingly, Darcy wasn't as enthusiastic in the sex toy store as Clint had expected, potentially because Clint knew the alpha didn't want to overwhelm Skye. Darcy did pick up several 'presents' though, some that she showed to Clint and Skye, and others that she kept hidden 'as a surprise', which made Clint glad that at least Darcy wasn't one of his potential mates.

====

That night, Darcy wanted to make sure Skye had a choice about sleeping arrangements in order to make the newest addition to their pack feel safe, so she let Skye know they had two different apartments to sleep in—Darcy's and Natasha's.

"I've been sleeping at Natasha's most nights, in her bed, and you're welcome to sleep with both of us there, or if you'd feel more comfortable with just me, Natasha doesn't mind going and visiting Maria for the night at Maria's place. Or you could sleep with just Natasha and I could go sleep with Maria."

Skye frowned, noticing that none of the options involved Maria coming to sleep with them. Then she remembered Darcy talking about them incorporating the other alpha slowly into the relationship, so Skye guessed that was the reason why.

"I think it would be nice to sleep with both of you in Natasha's bed," Skye said, and instantly started blushing at the thought of being in bed with both the alpha and beta.

"Hey, keep your thoughts out of the gutter, missy," Darcy said in a mock-stern voice, hands on her hips. "I'm talking about just sleeping."

In the end, Skye slept in the bed with both Natasha and Darcy, and it was the best sleep that the omega had ever had before in her life—and that was including the 18-hour 'nap' that she had taken with Darcy just the day before. Somehow, despite sleeping so much less than 24 hours ago, Skye fell asleep right away and then slept soundly through the entire night.


	18. The Interview

Maria really wasn't looking forward to the interview she had to do with Skye about what exactly had happened with the earthquakes, but since it was Hill's job and she didn't trust anyone else to do it, she was stuck with it now. If there was anything that the assistant director truly never wished to do, it was to cause any of her mates pain, fear, or sadness, and this interview had the potential to do all three to the young omega. On the other hand, SHIELD was supposed to determine the cause of widespread panic and destruction like this, and all they knew right now were the little hints that Skye had mentioned in passing.

If they truly wanted to protect both the city and Skye, SHIELD needed to understand exactly what situation triggered the earthquakes and how to control it—and more importantly, _Skye_ needed to understand this. That meant asking questions about events that were sure to be unpleasant, and then later once they'd determined the cause, get Skye the training she needed. Maria shuffled the interview notes for her meeting with Skye one more time on the table in front of her, and wished not for the first time that she had some identical twin she could swap out with so she wouldn't have to sit through this. She really wasn't looking forward to asking Skye all these difficult questions, and Hill guessed that the omega wasn't looking forward to it either, judging by how unexcited she'd been that morning. Fortunately, Darcy had offered to come as buffer and potentially as a shoulder to cry on, should things get overwhelming. Maria briefly wondered if Darcy would let Hill cry on the younger alpha's shoulder too when this was all done, since Maria might need it by the end of this.

There was a beep at the door and then it slid open, revealing a dejected-looking Skye tightly gripping Darcy's hand, eyes fixed to the floor. The two walked in and sat down in the chairs on the other side of the desk in the eval room they had chosen for the interview. Maria's heart sank, seeing her young mate like this, and she shuffled her interview papers again.

When Hill had recovered a little, she finally greeted them with, "Good morning."

Skye had apparently not looked up enough to be able to tell that it was Maria behind the desk when she'd walked in, because her eyes snapped up to Hill's face when she heard the greeting.

" _You're_ doing the interview?" Skye asked, shocked, after a few seconds of hesitation.

Maria nodded. "I'm the assistant director of SHIELD."

The omega made a faint noise of surprise. "They just told me that I would have to sit through an interview with SHIELD." Skye tilted her head questioningly. "Isn't that some kind of conflict of interest, interviewing one of your mates?"

"Well," Maria said, frowning, "I wasn't going to let anyone _else_ question you."

"Oh," Skye said, obviously surprised by this. Then she smiled faintly at Hill, and the alpha found herself smiling back. Maybe this wouldn't be such an arduous task after all.

"I'm going to have to ask you some hard questions though," Maria said with a tone of caution, wanting to give her full warning.

"Yeah," Skye said, her expression falling, before looking back up at the assistant director with a wry expression, "but at least it's you asking and not some jack-booted thug."

Instantly recognizing where Skye had picked up the phrase 'jack-booted thug', Maria turned a raised eyebrow to Darcy, who tried to look innocent but failed. Hill cleared her throat and then turned her attention back to Skye.

"Well, we might as well get started," she said, and Skye nodded, her eyes falling back down to the desk again. "It might be best to get it all done in one day so that way you can put it behind you faster, but if you need to stop for any reason, we can take a break and come back to this later today or another day."

Skye shrugged uncomfortably, and Maria nodded, understanding how her young mate felt. She flipped the switch for the official recorder, letting them know that she was moving over into her official capacity as assistant director of SHIELD.

"Ok, then I need you to tell me everything that happened on the day that Darcy found you in the alleyway next to Stark Tower, in the order that it happened."

Skye nodded and started talking, beginning with how she'd been sleeping on the bench out in front of some store—Skye couldn't remember which one it was—when some man woke her up by yelling at her and then advancing on her threateningly.

"Did you fear for your personal safety? Did you think that this man meant you harm?" Maria asked, needing clarification of the mental state that Skye was in before the quakes started.

The omega blinked, then a tiny hint of an amused smile appeared on her face. "What, are you going to go threaten him because he threatened me?"

Hill twitched. She _did_ have the strong desire to make this man never approach her mate again, but said, in a professional tone of voice, "Only if he regularly tries to attack girls on his property."

Nodding, Skye's expression turned serious again as she remembered. "I ... yes, I was terrified. He was so angry, and he got right in my face and wouldn't back up, and I was stuck on the bench. If I'd tried to get off the bench so I could run away from him, it would have put me closer to him, and I didn't want to do that. I can still vividly remember the smell of his terrible breath while he screamed in my face."

"And was that when the earthquakes started?"

"Yes, there's this ... feeling I have when they happen, kind of like I'm holding something in my chest, and I could feel that building while the man screamed at me, and then the feeling increased with my fear until I couldn't hold it anymore."

"What happened then?"

"The man stood up abruptly in surprise, and after a second he looked frightened—I admit that seeing him look a little frightened felt ... good? A little like payback? And then he stumbled and fell over, and when he hit the ground I got up and ran like he was chasing me. I glanced back once and it looked like he was trying to get up and come after me, and then after that I didn't look back and just focused on running. When I finally stopped after darting through a bunch of alleys, I didn't see him anywhere, but then of course the earthquakes didn't stop."

Skye wiped some tears away from her cheeks with one hand. Maria swallowed, but continued on, glancing down at her notes and the next questions.

"When did you first make the attempt to stop or control the earthquakes?"

"Right about then, when I was standing at the mouth of the alleyway, and I could see people panicking and pieces of stonework falling off of buildings. I wanted it to stop but I just ... it just wouldn't stop, I couldn't get it to stop." Skye's face crumpled alarmingly, and Darcy was there instantly pulling her into a hug and saying soothing things to her.

Hill paused for a bit so the young omega could recenter, then asked her what happened after she paused in the alleyway.

"I stayed there for a while, and then there were sirens, and the police showed up and they were moving people away, and then these people that looked like government agents. I ... they scared me, and I didn't want to get taken away again, so I started running. Then I saw Iron Man flying around and then I saw other superheroes, and I recognized the Avengers, and it looked like they were looking for me. I heard one of them say they were looking for the epicenter, so then I ran again. I tried to stay low and stumble a little so it wouldn't be too obvious that the shaking didn't affect me."

For some reason that Skye had not been able to figure out, the earthquakes she caused didn't knock her from her feet, no matter how hard they shook—and some of her past ... episodes had been _really_ strong. The best guess that Skye had was that her body somehow instinctively knew how the ground was shifting under her feet and was able to account for it on a reflexive level. It at least made logical sense, since Skye was the one controlling the earthquake—although for Skye the control was certainly not conscious. The omega explained all this to Maria, before continuing with the story.

"I kept trying to stop the quakes every time I stopped to catch my breath, but then either the agents or the heroes would get closer, so I never stayed in one place long. The quakes aren't a continuous thing. When they hit, it's like a big long thing, but they ... it feels like it builds and releases, but it was like trying to stop a wave in the ocean. I could feel it coming, feel it building up, but it would just crash over me every time. I don't know how long or how far I ran, but I sat down in an alley to catch my breath, and that's when Darcy found me."

Skye clutched at Darcy's hand, holding it in both of hers.

"Ok Skye, now I'm going to ask you about things that happened before, other times that your powers triggered an earthquake. This wasn't the first time, was it?"

Skye shook her head. "No. But ... I'm not really sure when it started. The first time I felt an earthquake, it was when I was ... 11 maybe? But I don't think I was at the epicenter of that quake. But when I was 15, I felt an earthquake and happened to be at the epicenter, and every other time since then I just 'happened' to be always at the epicenter, and that's what tipped me off, what made me realize that the earthquakes weren't just coincidence."

"Was something happening to you at the time when the earthquake happened? The one when you were 15."

Skye hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. "A kid was trying to steal my laptop while I was working in the library, and I chased after him."

"When exactly during this situation did the earthquake start?"

"When I grabbed my laptop back and he punched me."

Maria nodded and jotted something down in her notes. "And what was the event that solidified in your mind that these earthquakes were somehow being caused by you specifically?"

"Well, after the second time where I just happened to be at the epicenter of an earthquake, the idea was always in the back of my head, but what really did it was when I was studying for my placement exams and I got this ... weird migraine feeling. It didn't hurt, but it was like this pressure was building inside me—like the waves in the ocean analogy I just used—and then when it got to this breaking point, and I could _feel_ the pressure release inside my head. When it broke there was an earthquake around me. I immediately looked it up on the USGS earthquake monitor, and they had the epicenter right where I was. It was way too much to be a coincidence."

"Was it only one quake that day?"

"No it was two, about an hour apart."

"And when you felt that pressure building after the first earthquake, you tried to hold it back? Tried to stop it?"

Skye nodded emphatically. "Yeah, but I couldn't stop it at all."

"What about after the second? Were you trying to stop it and it worked?"

"I ... I don't know? I mean, I was trying to stop any more from happening, but I don't know if it stopped because _I_ stopped it, or because there just wasn't any pressure building up," Skye said, shrugging.

"Were there any times where you consciously tried to control an earthquake, stopping or causing, and it worked?"

Skye sat there quiet for a while. She paused so long that Maria wondered if she should skip the question for now, when the omega started speaking, but in a much quieter voice than before.

"Yes." Skye paused for a while before continuing. "I ... I was abducted at one point, by these secret government agency-looking people. They approached me at my apartment, saying they wanted to speak to me, and they stunned me with something and I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in this cold concrete cell. I felt like I was underground, but I couldn't be certain till later when I left. I was absolutely terrified about what they were going to do to me, or what they might have _already_ done to me while I was unconscious, and I wanted desperately to get out. So I tried to make that same feeling of pressure as before. I don't really know _how_ to do that, but when I tried to do it, it was there. Finally after calling up that pressure, the prison around me started to shake. I just clung to the metal bars of my cell, and it was the weirdest experience of my life—it was like I was perfectly still and just watching everything shaking around me? I can't really describe it.

"I continued with the shaking until part of my cell walls shifted enough that the bars were no longer attached, and then I was able to push the bars over. Just down the hall from my cell there was a computer station, and I used that to hack my way through and unlock all the security doors on the way out—their security measures were abysmal, whoever was their chief of security should be fired. Those guys took all my stuff, but I managed to scavenge a laptop, cell phone and some money from the base when I saw some of the storage lockers had come open. I was in grad school, but I knew they would just find me again if I went back, so instead I found a place to get some fake ID and made a new identity, and just stopped by my old room to grab enough things to keep me alive and ran out before I could get caught again.

"That was ... seven months ago? Maybe more? Since then, I've just been on the run. I was doing some freelance work through an online portal for Anonymous, just doing contract hacking and things, but then that portal was compromised—I think it may have been someone from that agency that abducted me trying to find me again—and so I couldn't use that anymore to get money. There were a few other places that would let me advertise, but the jobs and money pretty much dried up after that, so I haven't exactly had enough to find a place to live. I managed to buy this old VW bus, and I was living in that, but then I was running so low that I couldn't afford gas any more, so I've been just ...." Skye trailed off, and then gave a one-shoulder shrug, just staring down at the desk.

Maria reached across the desk and gave Skye a comforting shoulder squeeze. After a moment, she continued the interview.

"Do you think you can describe these people and where their base was?"

Skye nodded, and with Maria's questioning she described the uniforms of the people she saw, the weapons they used, and the types of vehicles. Then she asked about where the base was located, and had to keep the surprise out of her expression when she learned where it was—that had been a pretty devastating earthquake, and was all over the news when it happened.

Maria went back to cover all the other earthquakes that Skye was pretty sure she had caused. She found out that Skye was in the foster care system, and had gotten emancipated at 16 and accepted early into college where she graduated in just two years, and then had gone into a grad program before she had to start running. Honestly, with her skills and abilities—completely separate from her supernatural ability to cause earthquakes—Skye was exactly the kind of incredibly ambitious person that SHIELD recruited for its agents.

When Skye mentioned that she'd lost all of her already meager belongings while trying to run away from SHIELD and the Avengers, Maria picked up the phone and dialed the admins downstairs, requesting a new kit be brought up to her eval room. A runner brought it up while she finished up a few other questions, mostly about the extent of Skye's powers and how they affected her. The runner set a nondescript black briefcase on the desk after Maria buzzed him in, and then left. Maria popped open the clasps and laid the briefcase open.

"I have a few loaners you can use while you get your feet back on the ground—there's a laptop, smartphone, a charge card, backpack with some emergency supplies, just to cover the basics for right now. I'd see if we had some clothes downstairs too, but I think Darcy already took you shopping," Maria said, turning to Darcy, who nodded confirmation. "This is basically our starter kit that every new agent gets when they start with SHIELD, although most agents upgrade to more advanced gear as quickly as possible, so the newbie kits just sit around collecting dust most of the time."

Skye at first was too surprised to do more than stare at the kit or at Maria, but eventually Hill persuaded her to go through it, so she could see if there was anything else important that she was going to need that she didn't already have or wasn't in the kit. Skye declined to keep the briefcase, which Maria had expected she wouldn't want, and opted just to use the backpack, which had a nice inner compartment to hold the laptop and fit the rest of the kit gear. There were a few more questions in the interview that Hill went over while Skye organized and packed her new kit into the backpack, but the omega was far less anxious now that she had something concrete and familiar in her hands. A few of the questions caused Skye to ignore the gear so she could focus on her answer, or when she got lost in her recollection, but otherwise the kit provided an excellent distraction that wasn't so distracting that Skye couldn't answer.

"Well, I think that's it for now," Maria said eventually, stacking all her papers and notes together. "There might be a few follow-up questions later after Director Fury reviews everything, but for now, you are clear to go do whatever you need to do. Oh, and one more thing," Maria said, digging up a card from amongst the papers, "put this number into your phone. It's an emergency number we want you to call if you ever get into a situation where you think you're going to have another quake episode. We'll have an agent respond as quickly as possible to get you somewhere safe, although if you're around here it'll probably be me, Natasha, or Darcy."

Skye nodded and promptly started plugging the number into her contacts with nimble fingers. "Is this a pack thing, or is it a SHIELD thing?"

"Officially it's a SHIELD thing, but we already have reason to believe that one of your mates would probably be the best person to respond, so it's also a pack thing if one of your pack is nearby. Failing that, it'll be whatever agent is nearest to your location when you call for help, but if possible it'd be someone who can fly like Thor or the Falcon—that's the fastest way to evacuate you to a safe place."

Eyes wide, Skye asked incredulously, "You'd _fly_ me out of there??"

Maria grinned and nodded. "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

Still wide-eyed, the omega shook her head and numbly put both the emergency card and her phone into her pocket. Hill clicked off the recording and stood up from behind the desk, coming around to the front. When she held out her arms to offer a hug, Skye tucked herself into them without hesitation, and Maria gave her a loving squeeze and rubbed her back.

"I'm so proud of you—you did such a good job today, despite it being really difficult to go back through everything," Maria said with pride in her voice.

"It helped that you were my interviewer," Skye said into Hill's shoulder. "And having Darcy here helped."

Maria smiled at Darcy over Skye's head, and waved her to get in on the group hug. They had put their relationship on hold for a little bit, while everyone adjusted to having Skye, and the omega adjusted to the idea of having mates. It meant that Hill hadn't gotten as much cuddle time in with her mates, as she didn't want to overwhelm anyone—she still stopped by Natasha's apartment every day, but it wasn't as much as Maria would have liked. So the assistant director was taking advantage of the chance to get some cuddles in right now with two of her mates.

Skye was obviously enjoying it as well, if her contented sigh was anything to go by. After some time enjoying the others' embrace, she said, laughing lightly, "I didn't realize getting sandwiched between two alphas would be so nice—I can't wait to see what this is like in a more ... intimate setting." The final words had a distinctly sultry quality.

Maria immediately flushed, and Darcy did as well, but she also had a momentary look of what looked like fear pass over her face. Hill noted it, and said gently, "You can have that anytime you feel ready with me—but Darcy isn't ready for sex just yet."

Skye turned in their embrace to study Darcy's face, and the intern's expression flickered from shame to embarrassment to that hint of fear and back again. Skye seemed to recognize that, and responded by nuzzling her nose under Darcy's chin, saying in a casual and accepting tone, "Alright. But cuddling is still okay?"

Darcy exhaled in relief and said, "Cuddling is _always_ okay."

All three women squeezed tighter in the hug.


	19. If you can be good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: Skye surprisingly goes first

Skye noticed that Darcy was feeling upset or unhappy in some way after they got back to the apartment, so Skye made a point of sitting on Darcy's lap, hugging her, or leaning against her once they got back to the apartment. Skye had asked the alpha intern to let Skye copy numbers out of her contacts list so the omega would have ways to contact all her mates—she had been physically with at least one of her mates at all times since Darcy had found her in the alleyway, but that wouldn't always be the case. In fact, scientist wrangler intern had just told Skye that she'd need to go back to her work of scientist wrangling the next day.

Fortunately, Skye now had not only a phone but a laptop as well, and as a bonus she didn't have to worry about where she was going to sleep or how to feed herself. Everyone, even the Avengers that Skye had met who _weren't_ her mates, had seemed horrified that Skye might have to go back out on the streets, so while she felt a little weird just assuming that she could stay, Skye didn't ever suggest that she should leave—especially after the first time when both Maria and Darcy had looked horrified and Natasha had looked like she was ready to personally barricade the door. Skye felt like she was being a bit of a burden, especially considering that she had just made a whole bunch of work for SHIELD, and therefore at least one of her mates, by causing a bunch of earthquakes in the middle of New York City.

To try and make up for this Skye started doing a little legwork for Maria—since the hacker had only given vague details during the interview, the highly skilled omega spent the time getting exact dates and locations for each of her 'earthquake episodes' as the assistant director called them, including where that base had been. Then she hunted around online until she found Hill's email address and then sent everything she'd compiled. Without getting up from where she was currently snuggled into Darcy's lap on the couch, Skye pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Maria:

> Skye: i emailed u details from the interview  
>  Skye: dates locations etc  
>  Skye: this is skye btw
> 
> Maria: Hi, baby.  
>  Maria: Do I want to know how you got my email address?
> 
> Skye: ummm im a hacker  
>  Skye: didnt i say that in the interview??
> 
> Maria: Yes, yes you did.  
>  Maria: Skye, don't hack SHIELD please.
> 
> Skye: it wasnt *really* hacking  
>  Skye: ur infosec protocols just suck  
>  Skye: not hacking if someone leaves the door wide open
> 
> Maria: Skye ...
> 
> Skye: ok fine ill stop  
>  Skye: but im bored
> 
> Maria: Well, if you keep hacking us someone will come down and try to recruit you.
> 
> Skye: …  
>  Skye: r u telling me i should keep hacking???  
>  Skye: bc thats what im hearing
> 
> Maria: Baby, I literally just gave you the new agent kit. If you want in, all you have to do is ask.
> 
> Skye: ok  
>  Skye: my answer is probs already yes, but gimme a day or 2 to think ab it  
>  Skye: ill probs be really bored by then bc darcy will b at work
> 
> Maria: I understood about 80% of that, but yes, however much time you need.
> 
> Skye: <heart emojis>  
>  Skye: when r u off work  
>  Skye: r u coming over after  
>  Skye: i miss u  
>  Skye: darcy misses u too
> 
> Maria: I should be off around 7, and yes, I'm coming over after work.
> 
> Skye: good  
>  Skye: can u spend the night
> 
> Maria: You should ask Darcy what she thinks.
> 
> Skye: i just asked, darcy says yes
> 
> Maria: Then I guess I'll be spending the night. ;)
> 
> Skye: omg i cant wait  
>  Skye: hahahaha did u just wink at me

Maria didn't answer after that last message and Skye assumed she'd probably gotten sucked into work, so instead Skye turned her attention to Darcy, the one mate she physically had access to right then. They'd snacked their way through a whole bag of chips between them while cuddling on the couch, and Skye for probably the first time in a few months didn't feel at all hungry, so she didn't need to go eat. She didn't have anything else she wanted to do online right this moment, and she'd sent messages to both Natasha and Maria to at least let them have her new number and know that she was thinking of them. That had been pretty much all the tasks she'd been focusing on before, so now Skye wanted to make sure Darcy was okay.

Darcy hadn't been as energetic since they'd left the interview—the alpha intern was hiding it, but Skye could tell. So now that the omega hacker was sitting in her mate's lap and wasn't otherwise distracted, Skye started actively cuddling Darcy. She rubbed her hands up and down the alpha's arms, ran her fingers through Darcy's hair, and nuzzled into the intern's neck. When she got to the base of Darcy's neck, the alpha's scent was so nice and calming and made Skye so happy, that she couldn't leave it. After a while, the omega turned around in Darcy's lap so she could have better access to her mate's neck, ending up straddling the alpha's lap.

Skye carded her fingers through her mate's hair, and realized belatedly that she was purring as she did so—Darcy's scent was so distracting that she hadn't noticed at first. She rocked herself upward, pressing her chest to the alpha's, to get a better angle at the spot on Darcy's neck where the scent glands were. Curling one had around the back of Darcy's neck while her other hand continued carding Darcy's hair, Skye pressed her nose to that spot that smelled incredibly good—so good in fact that after a while Skye just wanted to taste it, and touched her tongue to that soft skin. Darcy's hips bucked under her, and Skye hummed with satisfaction, licking the skin again.

The hacker wasn't sure exactly how they'd escalated to that point, but the next thing Skye knew, Darcy was moaning and clutching tightly at Skye while the omega sucked and nibbled at her neck.

"Skye," Darcy gasped, "Skye, wait."

Skye's open-mouthed kissing and licks drifted up Darcy's neck and jaw until the hacker could look her mate in the eyes.

"We- I can't- ...," Darcy panted, "we have to stop."

Skye pulled back and noticed how affected Darcy was, the alpha flushed and panting, for the first time. "Oh ... I didn't mean to ... but you're not up yet," Skye said, glancing down towards Darcy's lap. Skye had been rubbing and pressing down, and Darcy hadn't shifted at all. "I thought it was still okay."

"I can't- ... there's nothing to _get_ up," Darcy blurted in explanation, still breathless, and then looked away in embarrassment.

Skye made a silent 'oh' with her lips, suddenly understanding. She guessed Darcy must have been injured or had something wrong- and then Skye made the connection between this and Darcy's reluctance to do any sex type things. Was this why Darcy said she wasn't ready?

"Darcy," Skye said gently, caressing her mate's cheek, "you don't have to have that-" the hacker gestured downward, "-for me to love you." She looked deep into Darcy's eyes, willing the older woman to believe her. "And you don't need that to make love—not with me or anyone else in our pack."

Darcy blushed a brighter red.

"Is that why you don't want to ... ?" Skye asked, leaving the question unfinished. Darcy looked away again, and that was answer enough for Skye. "Love, you know Natasha has strap-ons, right? She was asking about using them on me—she was giving me the 'birds and the bees' talk, and wanted to discuss boundaries—and she let me know that all the options she has I can use whenever I feel the need, with partners or without. You could use a strap-on, and then it wouldn't matter what you have down there, or your hands or your mouth—or not at all, and I'll just go in the back and take care of myself, if you don't want to have to do that."

"Oh, I definitely _want_ to do that," Darcy replied with feeling, "it's just that I ... can't." The alpha grimaced.

Skye caressed Darcy's hair and cheeks again, planting gentle kisses along her jaw. "Well ... is that something you want to try?" the hacker asked slowly.

Darcy seemed conflicted for a few moments, and then finally nodded her head.

Skye smiled brightly, and then toned down her response to ask more calmly, trying not to put any pressure on Darcy for the answer, "And is that ... something you want to try right now?"

The alpha hesitated but again nodded.

Smile growing wider, Skye stood up from her mate's lap and held out a hand to her, leading her towards the bedroom once Darcy gave Skye her hand. At the bedroom door the alpha paused, looking nervous.

"Hey, you can say no at any point that you want, and I can just take it from there, okay?" Skye said reassuringly.

Darcy shook her head. "It's not that. I ...," Darcy trailed off, then looked up to meet Skye's eyes. "Just you though, not the others." Darcy looked over to the front door nervously.

"Both Natasha and Maria won't be back for a while—or well, I know Maria won't be back for a while. I don't actually know when Natasha will be back." Skye thought for a moment. "Do you want to do this at your apartment?"

Darcy looked uncertain.

"Ok, what if I send a message to both of them and tell them not to come into the bedroom when they get home, and then we lock the door to the bedroom till we're done? They might be in the apartment, but they'll respect the privacy we need and not come into the bedroom. How does that sound?"

Darcy nodded, this time without hesitation. Skye smiled brightly and darted back to the front room to grab her phone, then guided Darcy the rest of the way into the bedroom, locking the door behind them. The hacker quickly sent off two messages to both of their other mates.

> Skye: when u get home, dont come in the bedroom  
>  Skye: darcy and i are trying something

Skye then threw her phone down on the dresser and pulled out Natasha's stash of sex toys. She found the one she wanted plus a harness, and set it out on the nightstand next to the bed. Gently, she took Darcy's hand and led the alpha over to the edge of the bed. Sitting down on the mattress, Skye asked her softly, "Do you want to help me take these off?" The hacker omega gestured to her clothes.

Darcy nodded and kneeled down in front of the bed, hands reaching towards the hem of Skye's shirt.

====

Sprawled over both her mate and the bed, Darcy blinked back to awareness. She'd blacked out at the end there—that was the most intense thing she'd ever experienced in her life, and she'd been part of some near-world-ending shit. Skye twitched and hummed contentedly underneath her, and Darcy was still inside her—or, technically, the strap-on was, but the pretend-alpha wasn't about to nitpick details. Darcy had been hiding herself for so long, so worried about being found out, that this was the first time the intern had ever had an orgasm on purpose—there had been some accidents, and usually involved Darcy running off to go change clothes, which thankfully was also something an alpha would have needed to do in that situation.

She felt ... wonderful. Alive. Buzzing with energy. Darcy had never felt this loved and at peace than she did right in this moment. Is this why everyone was so crazy about sex? Not that Darcy hadn't _wanted_ to have sex—she most certainly had and still did—but with her hiding her status, Darcy hadn't let someone get close enough to her in order to have sex before. This, with Skye, was the first time she'd ever let anyone in. Not even the other night with Natasha and Maria had been like this, because Darcy was too worried about the others finding out about her to really open up all the way, and that had been the first time she'd even come close.

"Oh my god, Skye," Darcy mumbled into the back of Skye's neck and hair, voice low and rough from all the crying out and panting.

Skye giggled, shaking both herself and Darcy. She looked over her shoulder at Darcy. "That was your first time, wasn't it?"

Darcy bit her lip and nodded, feeling self-conscious. Skye made a movement as if to get up and so the pretend-alpha lifted herself up, sliding the strap-on out of the hacker—and Darcy stopped to stare a little bit, watching the toy slide out of her mate and also just staring riveted at how amazing Skye looked like this.

"Darcy," Skye said, sounding very amused.

"Hmmm?" Darcy questioned, blinking and raising her eyes to Skye's smirk. The omega's only response was to kiss Darcy thoroughly.

When Skye pulled back, she said huskily, "That was amazing."

Embarrassingly Darcy made a weird sort of moan-whimper in the back of her throat, then tried to recover by saying in a half-strangled voice, "Yeah, for me too."

Skye went back to kissing Darcy, exploring her mouth and jaw and neck. Darcy moaned.

"I wouldn't mind going again, but ...," Darcy trailed off, looking over at Skye's phone on the nightstand. "They'll be back soon."

Skye moved her kissing back up to Darcy's lips. "Anything you want, baby," Skye said, half into Darcy's mouth. The pretend-alpha hummed and kissed back. "Should we get in the shower and clean up?"

"If you can be good," Darcy said with an arched eyebrow.

Skye pulled back and smirked. "Yes, I can be good." Standing up from the bed, she pulled Darcy up after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is your requisite incoming angst warning -- Darcy status reveal coming soon. Tears and panic may be involved.


	20. Soft goodnight kisses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some serious cuddles and pack time before we have our angst.

Natasha didn't see her messages until much later, finishing first with the more advanced recruit training classes she ran, and then after that with her own grueling workout and training routine. Toweling the sweat off her face, Natasha blinked at the messages, noting how long ago the messages were sent. She felt a cold lump of worry settle into her guts. She knew Darcy still had lots of internalized problems that seemed to revolve around sex, and the spy knew first hand how difficult and terrifying trying to confront old trauma could be. Natasha reminded herself that JARVIS hadn't contacted her, so it couldn't be _too_ bad, but ... she still worried. She quickly wiped herself off and then headed to the lockers to collect her gym bag, today bypassing the showers in favor of getting back to the apartment faster.

In the hallway outside her apartment, the elevator doors dinged open just as Natasha was turning into that corridor and Maria stepped out, walking quickly. Their eyes met and the two nodded, turning to walk the rest of the way to Natasha's door together at a brisk pace. The Black Widow pulled the door open and they stepped inside, apprehensive. Standing there next to the sofa, Skye was kissing Darcy playfully, gently, both of them perfectly at ease, and Darcy had the most infatuated look on her face that Natasha had ever seen. Maria took the door out of the Russian's unresisting hand and swung it closed behind them, but Natasha didn't pay much attention to that, mostly just standing there staring at Darcy, trying to comprehend everything.

"Oh, hi you two," Darcy said with a stupidly happy smile on her face.

Natasha couldn't help but respond with a smile as Darcy stepped forward to greet the spy with a kiss, and then do the same with Maria. "You seem happy," the redhead Avenger said, taking in how much the younger alpha seemed to be glowing. She glanced back towards Skye, who was looking like a cat in cream and entirely too pleased with herself.

"I am doing _great_ ," Darcy said, nuzzling Maria's neck a little. She turned back to sniff at Natasha. "Wow, you smell really strongly when you're all sweaty." She leaned forward and ran her tongue up the Russian's neck to her jawline. "Wow, that tastes good too," Darcy said, eyebrows lifting in surprise.

Natasha shuddered, and she stepped back slightly, holding up a staying hand. "Darcy," she said, a soft warning.

Darcy made a little frustrated rumble. "You should probably go take a shower then," she said lowly, and nipped at Natasha's jaw.

Identifying a situation that needed the better part of valor, Natasha retreated to the bedroom—and then right in the doorway she just stopped. She could see that the bedding was mussed, and it was obvious what activity had just happened there. A presence at Natasha's shoulder made her look back with the corner of her eye, seeing that Maria had followed her, probably wanting to find out why the former assassin had stopped. As if preparing for battle, Natasha squared her shoulders and went over to the edge of the bed, finding the sheets reeked of sex and Skye and Darcy. Whimpering just slightly, the beta discovered that she couldn't resist the urge to lean down and touch her nose to the twisted blankets and sheets, and she inhaled deeply.

====

Maria watched Natasha approach the bed with some amount of trepidation, wondering how the spy was going to react to the overwhelming scents there, especially right after Darcy had licked and nipped her. As soon as Natasha's nose touched the bedding, the beta moaned loudly and pressed herself down into the mattress. Hill cleared her throat and stepped out of the bedroom, pulling the door to behind her.

"Um, Natasha's just going to need a minute in there, I think," Maria said, blushing heavily.

Twin looks of amusement greeted her. "Oh really?" Darcy said in a falsely innocent voice, making Skye giggle.

Behind Hill, the bedroom door suddenly sprang open, and Maria felt a hand reach around from behind her to grip the front lapels of her uniform jacket right under the collar. "Natasha's going to need some help with her minute," Natasha's husky voice said behind her.

"I'm gonna go help Natasha," Maria said without even a moment's hesitation, gesturing over her shoulder with a thumb and backing up into the bedroom as the spy pulled her along. Before either of them could close the door, Skye ran over from the couch.

"Um." Skye cleared her throat. "Does Natasha need any more help with-" the omega started to ask.

"Yes," Natasha answered, not waiting for the question, and reached over to drag Skye in the room too.

Darcy laughed. "Well, I guess that means I should order dinner," she said smiling widely while she walked over to where her phone sat on the back of the couch.

Natasha looked over at Darcy with what Maria thought of as the redhead spy's "come hither and also burn all your clothes off" look, then the spy said gently after a few moments, "Whenever you're ready." She didn't need to say what exactly Darcy would be ready for—everyone already knew. Natasha also didn't bother waiting at the bedroom door, and instead resumed dragging her two mates with her to the bed.

What followed was intense, and although Maria couldn't keep up with Natasha or Skye, it was thoroughly enjoyable. After what must have been more than an hour, Darcy came over to pull the door shut—they'd left the door open, and several times during their sexcapades Maria had noticed Darcy standing at the door and watching—but now Clint was back home, and they didn't want to sex the poor man out of his own apartment. Maria actually liked Clint, which she hadn't been expected from the few interactions they'd had at SHIELD HQ. Here in private, with Darcy and/or Natasha, the man was opinionated and voluble, and had a dry wit—one that Maria felt Coulson would absolutely love. Hill was actually surprised that the two hadn't just gotten together yet, but she figured it was probably the same reason why Darcy wasn't in there having sex in a big pile with the rest of them—some sort of hidden trauma, and the other mate was tiptoeing around it.

When Darcy called out that the food had arrived, Maria groaned and rolled herself out of the bed. She hadn't wanted to leave it just yet—the bedding now smelled like sex from all four of them and it was _heavenly_ —but the assistant director's stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten in more than six hours and that she'd just exerted herself, heavily. Skye and Natasha were already toweling off after their shower and getting dressed, so Maria opted for just a quickie shower—butt, bits, pits, face, not necessarily in that order—and then got out. It just meant she would smell a little more strongly of sex, so she'd have to remind herself to not sit too close to Clint and stink him out. Luckily, when she got out and threw some of Natasha's extra sweats on—which were a bit short, but it didn't bother Hill—Clint had taken over an arm chair, so he was probably safe at that distance. There was a spot on the couch next to Darcy free, so Maria all but flopped down next to Darcy, nuzzling up next to the other alpha.

"Oh, why _hello_ there," Darcy said, running a hand through Maria's short hair. "Wow, all of you are so cuddly right now—I hope you'll still be this cuddly when we get into bed tonight, because I could get real used to this." Darcy nuzzled back into Maria, kissing her sweetly, and then handed Maria one of the plates on the table. "Here sexy, eat up."

"Mmm," Maria hummed, leaning over onto Darcy's shoulder and pulling her legs up so they were halfway into Darcy's lap. The younger alpha patted her mate's legs affectionately as Hill started to eat.

"Good girl," Darcy almost purred. "Did those two wear the big bad alpha out?"

Maria could only respond with another hum, her mouth now full of Thai noodles. She didn't really mind the teasing though—they _did_ wear her out.

"I think Natasha was the one wearing _me_ out," Skye said from the other end of the couch.

"Hmm," Natasha hummed. "One good thing that can be said for all those workouts is that they give you a lot of stamina," she said with an almost feral smile.

"Wow," Clint said from his chair. "And here I was thinking that all that exercise would work the sex _out_ of your systems."

Natasha snorted, saying, "Just you wait till you have your mate over, and then you can tell me how many hours of the day you spend having sex or dreaming about it."

Clint mumbled something into his noodles.

Darcy choked, and then said, "What was that, Clint?"

"I already think about having sex with him all day," Clint grumbled.

"Exactly," Natasha said. "And it'll be _worse_ after you start having him around all the time."

"When _are_ you going to bring him around, anyway?" Maria roused herself to ask. She thought she kept her tone neutral, but Clint must have heard something in her voice, because her turned to look at her with a piercing gaze. Hill was suddenly reminded why his Avenger name was Hawkeye.

Seemingly not finding anything in Maria's expression, he exhaled, and said, "We're going on a date tomorrow."

The room exploded with coos and noises of excitement.

Once the excitement about Clint's impending first date died down, Maria found herself wilting on the couch. It had been a long day, and the extra worries and then energetic activities had drained her, so now all she wanted to do was sleep. Apparently everyone else was tired too, or they just saw Maria looking tired, but they all agreed it was time for bed. Darcy offered to put away the food and dishes, and ordered the rest of them to get the bed ready.

Once Natasha and Maria were in the bedroom and straightening the sheets—after changing out the bottom sheet, because no one wanted to sleep on damp sheets—Skye told them in quiet tones about Darcy and what they'd done today, watching the open doorway to make sure Darcy wasn't coming over.

"What do you mean, 'can't get it up'?" Natasha asked, equally sotto-voce.

"I mean she has some kind of problem that she didn't go into detail about, but basically she can't shift, at all—and we got pretty far along and she never shifted even a little. Darcy implied that it was permanent." Skye tugged the sheets in blankets in silence for a few moments. "I think that has something to do with her troubled past that you were warning me about."

They rearranged the pillows and pulled out extra sleep clothes, and then finally Natasha said, "Well, that's why we're both going to therapy. Hopefully we can help her work through whatever it is that's stopping her from thinking of herself as worthy of love." Natasha turned to give a significant glance to Skye. "And you might want to come along with us the next time we go—either to support us, or to talk about things that happened in your past that you need to get through."

Skye grimaced, obviously not being thrilled at the idea. "I can go for support, certainly," Skye compromised.

"What are you three whispering about?"

They looked up to see Darcy standing at the door, but before anyone could do more than look surprised, Natasha came in with the save.

"Close the door, Darcy," she said in a relatively low voice. "We're talking about therapy sessions—I think Skye should come with us the next time we go."

Darcy's expression went from joking to serious. "Ah," she said in understanding, walking up to them. "Yeah I think you should come, Skye."

Skye looked a little uncomfortable.

"Don't worry," Natasha said. "You don't have to do your own sessions if you really don't want to, but Darcy and I are going through them because we want to try and help heal each other's wounds and try to become whole again."

Maria was impressed—now Darcy would think that whatever awkwardness they had right now was because of talking about therapy, and not because she had caught Skye telling them about Darcy's sexual hangups. It wasn't really lying either, since they _had_ been talking about therapy. Maria wondered if the spy had planned that, so they would have an excuse—and then Hill wondered if it was something Natasha could even help constantly doing, considering that she had spent most of her life training for and being a spy.

Soon, any awkwardness faded into yawns and changing clothes, and they all brushed their teeth and then crawled into bed. Maria found it charming that Darcy had already set up toothbrushes for all of them, complete with a letter written on each one to show whose it was. The bed was a tight fit, but they made it work by putting Maria on the bottom, Skye and Natasha to either side, and then Darcy basically sprawled over everyone. Natasha informed them all that this was just the way Darcy slept, so they might as well give her the space. Maria didn't mind—Darcy's weight on her was actually incredibly comforting, and she found herself drifting off almost immediately, only dimly recognizing the soft goodnight kisses before she was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst next chapter.
> 
> Also, I just almost deleted all my progress on this entire chapter accidentally, so now that I'm done scaring myself, I think I'm going to go make about 10 different backups of my stories, because y i k e s !


	21. Not who you think I am

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chpt: angst, dissociation, panic, panic attacks

Darcy woke the next morning feeling chilly, and she tried to bury deeper into the warmth of her mates in the bed with her, only to find that it was just her and the relatively chilly blankets. She put a hand out and felt them, and they were still warm, but only a little. Darcy yawned hugely and stretched, crawling out of the bed and towards the dresser where she pulled out a big sweatshirt to pull on. At least this way she could get warmed up again, even if it meant she had to get up.

She padded out to the front to find her mates were busy making breakfast and setting out plates. Rubbing her eyes as she walked over to the shared kitchen, she heard Maria say, "What's this?"

Natasha answered, "Just a multivitamin supplement for alphas, one for each of you."

Darcy's head snapped up in alarm. _She_ had a bottle labeled multivitamin supplements for alphas, but they weren't actually multivitamins—they were her pills to suppress her heats and also make her smell like an alpha. It was all-natural, basically just an extract of a specific plant that naturally altered the scent chemistry of betas and omegas to match an alpha's, and by the same mechanism also suppressed heats. The plant (and extract) wasn't actually all that well-known, but Darcy had discovered it in her research. To make sure no one knew what the pills actually were, the pretend-alpha ordered them delivered to a PO Box she rented, and then dumped them into innocuous-looking multivitamin and supplement bottles—the extract and plant had a distinctive smell, but as long as no one sniffed her supposed multivitamin bottles the disguise was almost perfect. No one she'd lived with had ever really questioned them before, but that was before she lived in a place with an alpha who might be sharing her things.

Like in a nightmare or a horror movie, Darcy was stuck watching everything happen in slow motion. Her eyes first darted to the bottle of supplements that was in Natasha's hand, registering it as her own bottle of suppressant supplements, and then she was unable to react in time as she saw Maria shrug casually, and then pop the supplement into her mouth, chasing it with a drink of juice.

"Wait!" Darcy exclaimed, but she wasn't fast enough—Maria had already swallowed it down.

Both Maria and Natasha turned to look at her with perplexed expressions. Darcy reached over to take the bottle of pills from Natasha and looked at it, numbed, the horror only just beginning to lick the edges of her mind. They were definitely her suppressants—she had left the bottle under the sink in the bathroom.

Not knowing what else to say, Darcy said, in a flat voice that sounded weird to her own ears, "Those aren't actually multivitamins."

Darcy wasn't sure how she wasn't having another panic attack yet—she could feel it there, like something just on the periphery of her vision—but she took Maria by the hand and led her back to the bathroom. Darcy grabbed Maria's toothbrush and dragged her over to the toilet. Handing Maria the toothbrush, Darcy said, "You're going to have to throw that up—if you don't you'll stink like hell and not even your mates will be able to sit next to you." Darcy had never actually been next to an alpha that had taken this particular supplement or eaten the plant before, but she had thoroughly researched the effects and knew that it made alphas stink something fierce, which might be one of the reasons no one talked about it that much.

Maria's eyebrows climb up nearly to her hairline. "And you've been taking these?"

"Yes- no- I mean," Darcy rubbed a hand over her face. "Just ... you're going to have to get rid of it." She pushed the toothbrush into Maria's hands. "God, it's all going to end isn't it—it's all over now," Darcy muttered to herself.

With Maria staring at her stunned, Darcy set the bottle down on the counter and left the bathroom. She couldn't handle being here right now, couldn't watch it blow up in her face. They were all going to know what she was, as soon as they figured out what was in the supplements—her mates were smart, and all it would take for them to find out was an online search on the symptoms that she'd just mentioned to Maria. Darcy didn't stop moving forward until she was almost at the door. Natasha recognized something in Darcy that worried her—even though from Darcy's perspective she was just a numb robot that could just barely move her limbs right now—and went to block Darcy's path to the door.

"I need to go get something," Darcy said seriously, and then sidestepped Natasha, opening the door and walking out before the spy could stop her—not that Darcy really thought she could outrun Natasha, but Darcy hoped that her behavior and seriousness would stall the former assassin before she started to pursue Darcy.

Because Darcy _was_ running, even if none of the others knew it yet. She had known that getting close to her mates was a bad thing, had known that it would only end in tears if she let them fall in love with her, if she fell in love with them. And now look at her—about to lose her mates, and about to lose her comfortable way of life. Why couldn't Darcy have just stuck with having friends? Keeping everyone at a distance so they could never find out what she really was? Maybe Darcy could escape, find another group of scientists that needed a wrangler, or she could go back to her days of boring service industry jobs—boring but safe. Before she realized it, Darcy's feet had carried her to the door of her apartment that she shared with Jane. She opened the door, not bothering to knock, even though she really didn't live there anymore. Jane and Thor were on the couch, obviously getting frisky.

Darcy didn't slow or pause, just made a beeline for her room. "Don't worry—I'll get out of your hair. I just have to grab some things," she said, holding her hands up palms-outward in a don't-worry gesture.

She reached her bedroom door and didn't look back at them, the importance her mission to get enough stuff to get out and the persistent numbness of her mind and body not really allowing for other distractions. She opened her closet to where her large duffel bag was, which she hadn't really used since she'd moved in, then grabbing it, started pulling things out of her closet and stuffing them unceremoniously into her duffel. Darcy glanced at herself in the mirror and noticed that she wasn't really dressed to impress, wearing comfy flannel pants and a sweatshirt, but it would have to do for now. She threw some shoes on after she had about five of everything, which she knew from experience that she could make last a week.

Darcy strode out of the bedroom and gave Thor and Jane a quick smile and wave—she wasn't sure how the smile looked, but Darcy didn't have time to worry about that now—and made her way directly to the door.

"Darcy, wait," Jane called out to her, but it was too late, Darcy was already out the door, closing it behind her.

She was making for the central elevator when she remembered that she didn't have any of those very supplements that had betrayed her—supplements that Darcy hadn't taken yet today, and that if she didn't have would put her in heat within three days. She hadn't ordered another shipment yet because she'd had a large number of pills still in that huge bottle.

The bottle that was sitting in the bathroom of Natasha's apartment.

Darcy paused, chewing her lip in thought while she weighed the consequences of just not going back, but decided that she couldn't risk it—she _needed_ that bottle. She redirected and headed for Natasha's apartment, not bothering to knock, and not bothering to slow down as she walked inside. She did have to pause when she saw that her three mates were gathered together around the kitchen island, talking to each other—and Darcy saw that her bottle of supplements was sitting on the counter next to them. Making directly for the bottle she needed, Darcy picked it up, and then tried to turn around and leave only to find that Natasha had darted back to place herself in front of the door.

"Darcy, please," Natasha begged. "I don't know what it is but please let us help you." Darcy then felt her first blip of emotion since she'd seen Maria swallow that pill, a burst of surprise when Natasha dropped to her knees in front of her. "Please."

Darcy needed to leave, but she couldn't figure out what to do—the very numbness in her mind that had stopped her panic also made it so she couldn't think clearly, and so Darcy just stared at Natasha on the floor before her. A familiar sound behind Darcy drew her attention, and Darcy looked over her shoulder to see Skye reaching over the plates on the counter to where Natasha had set out a supplement pill for Darcy to take. Skye looked up and met Darcy's eyes for a heartbeat—Darcy's mouth worked, wanting to say something that would stop her, but no sound came out. Skye then looked down at the pill, frowning, and then sniffed at it. Skye blinked for a moment, and then recognition bloomed in her eyes, causing an answering chilling horror in Darcy, spreading through her guts. She knew from the look on Skye's face that the omega—the other omega in the pack—had realized what that pill was, and now by association would know what Darcy was. Darcy didn't want to watch them realize what was happening, didn't want to watch them lose their affection for her. She needed to leave.

But Skye did something that Darcy didn't expect. She dropped the pill carelessly on the island counter, and moved forward to grip the front of Darcy's sweatshirt.

"Darcy," Skye said, almost crying, "oh Darcy—you don't have to hide. I'm here, and I'm okay, perfectly safe, even as an omega."

Darcy just shook her head, unable to explain. Skye pressed her face into Darcy's front—Darcy couldn't tell if she was seeking or giving comfort, but dimly she thought maybe it didn't matter. She wanted to wrap her arms around Skye to hold her and comfort her, but she had one hand gripping her duffel bag and the other holding her supplements. Darcy wondered if maybe it was better that way, so she wouldn't feel as attached. Skye pulled Darcy's face down to look at her. "Darcy, all we want is you, no matter what you are, no matter how you present yourself."

Tears running down her cheeks, Skye ran her hands over Darcy's face, and Darcy didn't realize until that moment that her own cheeks were wet too. "Darcy, just ... why are you taking them?"

Darcy somehow found her voice. "Only alphas can protect themselves," she said, her voice distant and lost.

"Oh god, Darcy, what happened to you?" Skye said, stricken, and started sobbing openly into Darcy's sweatshirt. This was too much, even for her numbed heart to take, and Darcy slowly lowered them to the ground until Skye was on Darcy's knees. The duffel bag and bottle were dropped to the floor and Darcy's arms wrapped around Skye without any conscious intent from Darcy. The sobbing, amazing young woman in her arms finally broke through Darcy's numbness, and all the emotions she'd been holding back rushed in, and her tears broke free, sobbing there on the floor with her mate.

A touch on her front let her know that Natasha had joined them, and then a hand was on her back from Maria—reminding Darcy of her last words to the assistant director.

Lifting up her head, Darcy took a couple gasps to calm her breathing enough so she could say, "Did you throw that pill up yet?"

The hand moved to squeeze Darcy's shoulder, and Maria said, somewhat exasperated, "Doing that right now." Out of the corner of her eye, Darcy saw Hill disappear back into the bedroom. Natasha pressed in so she could hug Darcy and Skye fully.

Sniffling into Darcy's shoulder, Skye asked, "Will it really make her stink?"

Darcy huffed, and lifted one shoulder in a shrug—not the one that Skye was pressed into. Voice shaky, she said, "I mean, I've never smelled it, but I researched all the symptoms among alphas so I'd know, so ... I think so? From the accounts I read it supposedly smells _awful_."

"Maybe we should tell her not to throw it up so we can find out." They were both still crying, but it was gentler now, and Darcy suspected that the conversation was supposed to distract both of them from being sad.

"I dunno—if I don't have a panic attack I'm probably going to need lots of hugs, and I don't think I want stinky hugs." Darcy considered for a moment, and then amended, "Well, probably also if I have a panic attack I'll want hugs, just after the attack is over."

"Does this count towards your hugging requirement?" Natasha asked, pitching in with the distractions.

Darcy gave a weak laugh. "It's kind of a wet hug, but I guess we have to start somewhere."

"What do you have in here?" Natasha asked pointing at the bag.

"An escape bag," Darcy said, frowning as her earlier emotions driving her flight surged back up.

"You know," Skye stepped in deftly, "there's plenty room in there to hold stuff for two of us. I'm okay with not having a bunch of alphas in my relationship—especially since the non-alphas seem to be the ones with more stamina."

"I heard that," Maria said, stepping out of the bedroom doorway. When Darcy looked up at her, Hill answered her mate's question preemptively, "Yes, I threw it up—and it tasted awful by the way."

Darcy snorted. "You get used to it—I mean, not you, because you're not going to eat them again. No one needs a stinky alpha running around."

Maria wrinkled her nose and stepped forward to retrieve the bottle where it had rolled away from the group hug. "Should I dump them all then?"

"No!" Darcy shouted, turning and holding out a hand to stop her. Maria froze, pill bottle in her hand.

"Baby," Skye said gently, "it's okay—you don't have to take them."

Darcy huffed out a breath that was something between a laugh and a sob. She scrubbed at her face, saying, "Well, I definitely can't get off them today. That would be so much more awful than things are already going—and I don't think I need to point out that today has been kinda shit so far."

"Okay," agreed Skye. Then she added, "You know we love you just as you are—you don't have to pose and posture for us."

Darcy grimaced. "You know what's going to happen if I stop taking them."

Skye's eyes widened. "You mean you'd ...."

"Yeah," she answered glumly. "Within like three days, if my research is correct."

"Oh," Skye said, pondering this new information. After a moment, she looked up at Darcy with a distinctly interested expression.

"Hey, keep it in your pants, Romeo," Darcy said with wet laugh, wrinkling her nose playfully and pushing lightly at Skye's shoulder. Skye only giggled in response and bit her lip, making her thoughts pretty clear to Darcy. "Well I can tell that we're not going to get your mind out of the gutter, so maybe we should feed you instead."

They all sat down at the kitchen island, Natasha and Maria mostly silent but watchful, reaching out to give Darcy reassuring squeezes or rubs every so often. Skye went and sat herself down right next to Darcy, practically in Darcy's lap. Thankfully breakfast was waffles, so they hadn't really suffered during the wait for the morning's events to blow over—Natasha just threw them in the microwave to heat back up. Darcy of course slathered hers in syrup _and_ butter, and enjoyed the fact that today no one was giving her shit for it. No one said anything when Darcy reached for the single supplement pill that had been left on the counter and took it.

Skye kept up some light conversation mostly by herself, but everyone participated. Eventually, during a pause while Skye was reheating another waffle, Maria cleared her throat, and said, "So ... can I ask what these pills do then?" She tapped the bottle lightly. "I mean, I figure I should get to know since I just had to throw one up."

Skye and Darcy exchanged looks, deciding what to say—Darcy had been thankful that Skye had been rather circumspect when she was trying to talk to Darcy about it, but that had left the question about whether or not she should tell the others right this moment. Darcy knew that her mates would find out, that one of her mates already _had_ found out, and that it might be better to get it all over with now, rather than dragging it out. Now that they weren't talking about it anymore though, Darcy wasn't sure how to start, and she bit her lip indecisively.

Natasha seemed to sense Darcy's need to talk about it, and stepped in to fill the silence. The former assassin informed Maria dryly, "I gather that they make betas and omegas smell like alphas and suppress an omega's heat—I'd heard of it before, but never actually encountered it. From Skye and Darcy's conversation, I'm guessing that Darcy is actually an omega, since they implied that she would have a heat within three days if she stopped taking them."

A few different emotions passed over Maria's face in quick succession, but Darcy didn't really see them. The fork clattered out of Darcy's hands onto her plate, and she gripped the countertop so hard her knuckles turned white, trying to remember how to breathe. Skye came up to wrap her arms around Darcy's shoulders, speaking to her in soothing tones.

"Baby, baby, they love you. I love you. We're all here for you," she said softly but urgently, rubbing circles into Darcy's hair and shoulders. "You can be whatever you want, whatever you need to be, and we won't stop loving you."

All Darcy could think about was trying to get away from here, her mind filled with the static of panic. "Can't breathe," Darcy choked out.

Skye scrambled into Darcy's lap—which Darcy wasn't even sure how Skye managed because Darcy was still gripping the countertop with both hands.

"Darcy, baby, look at me," Skye said, urging Darcy's chin upwards until Darcy met her eyes. "I'm right here, and I'm an omega, and I can protect you. No one's going to hurt you while I'm here." Skye kept repeating that until Darcy took a great shuddering breath and buried herself into Skye's arms, not crying or doing anything else, just holding on.

Finally the newly revealed omega pulled back, her hacker mate still carding her fingers through Darcy's hair, feeling thoroughly worn out and spent. "Better?" Skye asked. Darcy nodded, and Skye replied, "Good. Now that everyone has all the info they need on that topic, the subject has been banned from the house till further notice. And I believe that means it's now time to continue our Supergirl marathon."

Feeling listless, Darcy let Skye pull her over to the couch—only pausing briefly to glance at her unfinished plate and confirm to Natasha that she wasn't going to finish it. Skye, of course, pushed her down onto the couch and then wrapped her in a blanket, and then Skye draped herself over Darcy's lap. Maria and Natasha cleaned up in the kitchen, and then came over to sit down with them, sitting on either side of where Skye was curled around the newly found omega. Darcy had to get up to go to the bathroom, and when she came back, she saw that Skye had taken over her spot, so Maria beckoned to her, patting her lap for Darcy to sit in.

Darcy eyed the lap in question, and against all Darcy's expectations of the tough assistant director, Maria pouted at her when Darcy hesitated. It was so surprising that Darcy couldn't help but laugh, and laugh hard—so hard that she had trouble standing up, so Maria got up and gently tugged Darcy into her lap while the newly discovered omega was doubled over. When Darcy finally stopped laughing, she found herself tucked into Maria's lap snugly with a blanket, and Darcy wriggled until she found a comfortable position, with her forehead resting against Maria's chin. Eventually Skye scooted over and tried to coax Darcy into her own lap, so to appease everyone's need to cuddle her, Darcy ended up lying across the laps of all three of her mates, with her head resting in Maria's lap as the alpha ran her fingers through Darcy's hair. It was incredibly relaxing and calming, and Darcy couldn't help but drift off to


	22. Nest shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt chpt title: "You should have your heat on Hump Day"

Clint's rapidly approaching date for that evening helped get Darcy feeling more like her usual self once she'd recovered from her earlier panic. After the newly discovered omega woke from her nap sleeping sprawled across her mates' laps, Clint was in the kitchen talking about date prep with Natasha, and the sleepy omega was immediately sucked into the conversation—Darcy didn't know if this was something that Natasha had purposefully set up to distract her, but distract her it certainly did. Despite having gone shopping with him just a short while ago, Darcy made Clint pull out all his date clothes and they started discussing options, with Darcy eventually making the archer parade around in different outfits. It would have seemed like a completely normal day, except for the fact that Clint didn't once complain about any of Darcy's suggestions, and one of her mates was always in physical contact with her whenever she held still for long than a few seconds—a hug, an arm slung casually around her waist, a head leaning on her shoulder.

The newly revealed omega was as glad for the contact as she was eager to avoid thinking about _why_ she needed it. Anytime Darcy stopped to think, it felt like there was a gaping hole inside her, and that if she didn't keep moving that she would be sucked down into the despair and pain, so she jumped enthusiastically into her distraction with both feet. Once they'd sent Clint off on his date—after Darcy had pulled the archer off to the side and tried to tell him in a roundabout way that she wanted him to have fun on his date and not worry about her, to which Clint had responded by pulling her into a fierce, almost-too-tight hug—her mates lined up one after another of Darcy's 'comfort' activities. This included marathoning more cute but lighthearted series, and also later Maria finally confided in all of them who Clint's mate was.

"iPod Thief?? His mate is iPod Thief??" Darcy asked incredulously, which Maria found hilarious—the assistant director had of course been involved behind the scenes on the operation that had resulted in Darcy's iPod being taken, and so was equally guilty of iPod thievery. The newly revealed omega took some time to pester Maria about this before the 'dispute' dissolved into a tickle fight on the couch.

Darcy found herself getting tired really quickly after that, all of that panic and emotional upheaval from the morning catching up to her and completely exhausting her, so the four women had a light and early dinner. Then all three of her mates wrapped themselves around Darcy protectively in bed, rubbing soothing circles on her skin or softly stroking her hair. With her weariness pulling her down and under this determined onslaught of affection, Darcy was sound asleep within minutes.

The next morning Darcy insisted on having a mostly normal day, and going into the lab—but Skye ended up sitting with her most of the day, doing hacker-y things next to Darcy at her desk that the intern didn't really understand. Jane also hovered around her a lot more than usual. This care and attention mostly helped, and within a few days of her discovery and subsequent escape attempt, Darcy had gone back to nearly normal, except for her mates now knowing about her previously hidden status. Natasha bumped up the date for Darcy's therapy session since it would be better to tackle this while it was still fresh, much to the new omega's dismay—Darcy was excellent at ignoring her problems and didn't really want to face this one. But Natasha and Skye both sat with her during her first session, and surprisingly Darcy felt ... better, after talking about it with the therapist, and having such unconditional support from her mates. It wasn't a quick fix—Natasha warned her that it would probably take a long time and a lot of work—but it did help her feel more comfortable with herself and her status.

The four of them also went to look at apartments when all of them were off work, and after a couple days of viewing, finally all four agreed on a new place. Within a week they had moved in, though it took a bit longer for Maria to move all of her things over, Darcy amused that the tall alpha had turned out to be a bit of a packrat. Darcy in particular found it fun and healing to set up their new apartment—it was a perfect combination of her learned and heavily practiced alpha behavior towards homemaking, and her buried omega instincts to build a hidden nest somewhere in the apartment. There were several large closets in the apartment that fit the bill, and with Skye's help she chose one that worked for them both.

Darcy and Skye then went on shopping trips to outfit their new apartment, but mostly what they focused on when they went out was the nest, since it was hard to figure out what would be best from catalogs. The two spent a lot of time nuzzling test blankets and pillows, trying to get things that they liked the feel of. They went to specialty heat equipment stores that sold fabrics designed to be extra soft for sensitive in-heat-omega skin, and the store managers nearly fell over themselves to help them when they found out the dimensions of the nest Darcy and Skye were trying to outfit. Both of the two women would nuzzle a pillow and then discuss the feel of it—now that Skye knew Darcy was also an omega, she wanted Darcy to pick out at least half of the supplies. Darcy got stuck a lot, not really knowing how to get in touch with her omega side after dedicating so much of her time to being incredibly alpha-y, so Skye would walk her through it and give her hints. One of the salespeople told Skye when Darcy was otherwise occupied just how adorable and touching she thought it was that Skye's alpha was so involved in helping stock her nest.

Skye laughed, and said, "Oh, you have no idea."

Later when Darcy came back, the same salesperson tried to flirt with Darcy and Skye—the woman was a beta, though not mate-scent—but Darcy just cleared her throat and said politely, "You're very nice, but I'm sorry—three mates is plenty already." The salesperson nearly swooned at the idea of having three mates, but accepted the refusal and didn't try to flirt with them again.

After several days of visiting the various competing stores, Darcy and Skye had purchased no fewer than a dozen throw blankets, more than thirty pillows—some of them stiff and resistant, so they could be used as support under someone bent over, for example—a cushiony floor covering, some very soft sheets, and a special liquid-resistant but flexible cover that was supposed to go under the sheets on the floor. Tony already had the special brackets installed at the edge of the nest floor to hold down the sheets and floor covering, once they had selected which room they wanted to be the nest, so they didn't have to buy those at the store.

Since it was such a large order, the two omegas had had to wait a couple days for it to be delivered. When the delivery man finally showed up, Darcy asked to take a long lunch to go down and receive it, and Jane had been curious to see what they were getting so Darcy brought her along. Skye was still at SHIELD but texted back that she would get off as soon as she could to come help Darcy set up. Everything was wrapped in plastic from shipping but in any case Jane was careful not to scent things up before Skye could get back to do that, not realizing that Darcy could fill that role—usually the nest was the realm of the pack's omega or omegas, who then would fill it with their scent. Items scented by the rest of the pack were added as well, but they served primarily as accents, with most of the scent coming from the omegas. Darcy and Jane examined the material, and Jane mentioned that she might have to get some of the same things later, and then they both went back to work. Once Skye was able to escape, Jane let Darcy off as well, and the two pack omegas went to work on the nest.

They both first removed all the packaging material and put the new supplies on the bed, and then took showers to clean themselves of all extraneous smells on their bodies and the dirt from the packaging. Thoroughly cleaned, they then started by laying out the cushiony floor covering down—it would feel more like a mattress and would make it easier to kneel on. Thankfully, Tony's cleaning crew had already thoroughly cleaned and de-scented the carpet underneath, and all Skye and Darcy needed to do was roll it out and clamp it down. Then came the special liquid-resistant layer, which would make them need to wash the cushiony layer less often, and then they spread the sheets down. Once that was done, both omegas felt the need to lay out and roll around on their new smooth surface, enjoying how it felt against their skin. Neither of them had bothered to put clothes back on after their shower, so this was also starting the process of scenting the room. Then they went back out and started arranging the pillows, starting with the sturdy and heavy ones, putting them down in places where they thought they'd be best. They were pretty heavy, so it took both women to move them, and after all the work they were starting to sweat a little and smell stronger.

Darcy felt herself staring at Skye's chest as they carried the pillows, drawn to the way her breasts bounced and swayed as they walked around. The older woman looked away, pretending to survey the other pillows while she got a hold of her libido. Skye made a sound behind her and Darcy turned back to look, and found the other omega leaning over in a way that emphasized her chest, pressing it up with her arms.

"Darcy," Skye called in a sultry voice, and Darcy noticed the other omega's eyes had darkened noticeably. "I think we need to test these." The younger woman tapped one of the sturdy pillows in indication, then turned around to bend over the pillow, presenting herself to Darcy.

Darcy didn't waste any time and darted back out of the nest to grab a harness and strap-on from the bedside drawer in the master bedroom along with a bottle of lube. When Skye saw the lube in Darcy's hand, Skye said, "You definitely won't need that." She grabbed Darcy and pulled her down into a passionate kiss before rolling over underneath Darcy to present herself once more.

"Oh god," Darcy moaned.

Neither of them lasted long the first time, and then the two went around the room doing the same to the other pillows, testing them in various positions. Once they'd tired themselves out, the two omegas went to grab the soft pillows and scatter them around the edges of the room, taking turns rubbing each other down with them to get their scent on them before putting them in the nest—especially now that they'd both just had a lot of sex.

Before they finished scenting and placing all the pillows, the two omegas could hear the sounds of someone else coming home in their pack, but no one disturbed them as they continued working on the nest—building a nest was generally considered sacred and shouldn't be interrupted. When they'd placed all the pillows, Darcy still felt like it wasn't quite finished yet, and maybe wanted to roll around on everything a bit more, but neither she or Skye wanted to make their other mates wait any longer to see them. The nest was typically the omega space, and the other pack members wouldn't enter without the omegas' invitation.

The two women gave the nest another look over, and then walked back out to the front room to greet their other mates.

====

Helping Natasha through her past trauma, sometimes with just Darcy, and sometimes with her other mates too, also helped Darcy deal with her own past. It made her realize—and internalize, finally—that the bad things in her past didn't make her broken, any more than they made Natasha or Skye broken. Darcy didn't have to keep carrying the guilt for things that had been done to her, or things that had happened that she'd had no way of stopping.

It ended up being Skye, though, that eventually convinced Darcy that she should try having a heat, if for no other reason than to try it. Skye told Darcy about her own experiences with heat, and about how it was _amazing_ —basically describing it as a series of day-long orgasms, and now that Darcy had had actual sex, it sort of sounded to her like it might be a good thing. The few times that they'd had sex with all four of them together had been just mind-blowing for Darcy—and judging by the feedback from the others, they felt the same—and Skye said it was even better when in heat. Skye hadn't had her heat after meeting all her mates yet either, and was eagerly looking forward to it. Her heat was supposed to happen in probably two to three more months, with a little bit of uncertainty since her cycle wasn't exactly predictable. She suggested that if Darcy wanted hers, she would either need to try it now, or wait four months until after Skye's heat finished. Natasha and Maria were curiously silent on the issue, and when Darcy asked them about it, Maria confided that they both _really_ would like it if Darcy wanted to try having one, especially since Darcy could control almost to the day when it happened, but they hadn't wanted to put any undue pressure on Darcy for it—they both wanted Darcy to make her own decision. Darcy looked over at Natasha to find the former assassin biting her lower lip and nodding to Darcy.

And that was ... honestly that response made Darcy feel incredibly cared for—and it was very arousing. But Darcy still had reservations, so to make her feel better, everyone else came up with plans to help ease her worries. They all could put in requests for up to five days off for emergency pack leave, which was what nearly everyone used when their mate was in heat, and Director Fury had personally promised Maria that when the time came, all three of them could be off at the same time. He hadn't been particularly happy about it, but Maria hadn't really cared as long as he gave that to them. Darcy of course could get leave from Jane, who didn't know the exact details yet, but Darcy promised to tell Jane exactly what was going on with Darcy after it was over in exchange for Jane promising whatever leave Darcy needed. It wasn't really that much of a negotiation—both of them knew that Darcy would tell Jane everything later and that Jane would always give Darcy the leave she requested.

Eventually, Darcy found that she didn't really have any more reasons to say no, and that she was interested in having this happen, especially after having heard Skye gush about heats—pun intended. So Darcy told her mates one evening after dinner that she thought she was ready to try having a heat, her mates all expressing happy surprise and pleasure at the news. After they hugged and kissed her, talking about how proud they were of Darcy, the three started pulling out scented candles, special soft bedding that was supposed to feel better on skin during heat when an omega's skin was so much more sensitive, pulling up meal plans including all of Darcy's favorite foods. An omega entering heat was supposed to be pampered and given gifts, which was something Darcy factually knew since she had thoroughly studied and emulated all cultural alpha behavior, but Darcy had never witnessed it first hand, and certainly never had it directed at her before.

Darcy felt flattered and slightly uncomfortable with all the attention and blushed a lot. Skye especially seemed determined to make sure Darcy was well taken care of, offering to give her massages, or draw her a bubble bath with lots of expensive bath bombs. It wasn't just that evening either—the next morning her mates did the same thing, and Darcy had to tell them, "I haven't even stopped taking my suppressants yet—aren't you supposed to wait till the heat starts?"

It wasn't until Natasha told her that often the weeks leading up to an omega's heat were filled with gifts as well that the newly discovered omega fully understood, and so since Darcy was planning to have her heat within a timespan of weeks (or maybe even _a_ week) the Russian beta argued that it was entirely appropriate to begin now. Also, Maria piped up with the reminder that Darcy had been living for years without heats, so they wanted to make up for lost time. Skye just made a flippant comment about how she was just getting Darcy prepared for all the times Skye was going to bend Darcy over their special pillows, which earned her a light swat on the shoulder from Natasha.

"What?" Skye protested, smirking.

Before Darcy stopped taking her supplements though, she made each of her mates and Jane tell her when the best day would be starting from three days out. Ignoring Skye's comment that she should have it on Wednesday because it was hump day ("Oh, come on! I thought it was a great joke!"), Darcy eventually settled on a Tuesday the next week, with the expectation that she wouldn't go into work after Sunday. Jane's lab and SHIELD both operated through the weekends, so everyone just rotated when their weekend would be essentially.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't spend a whole lot of time on the transition from angst to heat, so I may need to come back later and expand some of these parts, like Skye officially joining SHIELD which happens in the background.


	23. The pre-heat

Three mornings before the planned start date for her heat, the first day where Darcy stopped taking her heat-suppressing supplements, she woke to breakfast in bed with fresh omelets followed by her mates giving her foot rubs. Then when Darcy went into work, she found everyone else in the lab giving her secretive and smug-looking smiles. She didn't know what was up until she got to her desk and found a present waiting for her there, a surprisingly soft teddy bear holding a bag of gummy bears—Darcy suspected Natasha's hand in this, the beta was unaccountably fond of puns and knew of Darcy's addiction to gummy candies. When she got back home, Maria literally picked Darcy up at the door to the apartment and carried her to the couch, where she proceeded to give Darcy a full-body moisturization routine and brushed her hair for nearly an hour. The next day proceeded apace, but with slight alterations—instead of gummy bears, it was Junior Mints and a comfy bathrobe, and she was carried to a scented bath.

Since Darcy wasn't taking her supplements that would alter her scent naturally, she had been using a perfume that smelled like alpha the last two days, which could be washed off at the end of each day when she wasn't going to leave the apartment anymore. Darcy wasn't really ready to have the whole world know about her hidden status just yet, but didn't mind that her mates wanted to enjoy her natural scent while she was off her suppressants. The first day Darcy's scent hadn't really been all that different, but by the morning of the second day she smelled noticeably omega. One thing Darcy did note by the second day without the suppressants—besides all the gifts from her mates—was that she felt ... weird, while not taking her suppressants. It felt like her skin was somehow itchy and also slightly too tight, and it made her a little irritable. Skye told her it was a sign that her heat was approaching. Darcy had also noticed that people in the lab would pass by her desk more often or hover next to her when they had no reason to, and she didn't understand what was happening until someone asked her if one of her mates was approaching their heat.

By nighttime on the second day, all three of Darcy mates seemed to want to stay physically next to Darcy all the time, and their pupils were all blown out whenever she looked at them. When Darcy suggested that they try to take care of everyone's obvious interest as they were all cuddled together on the couch, Maria shook her head and said that they could certainly wait a day for Darcy to be ready. When Darcy got a little annoyed at that, all three of her mates teamed up to give Darcy a full-body massage that lasted over two hours, after which Darcy was so ready for bed that she was already drooling into the new soft bedcovers—which she hadn't even noticed were on the bed until her mates had laid her down on them.

The next morning Darcy didn't have to go into work, and found all three mates wrapped around her in one big naked love pile. Her head felt kind of fuzzy, and everything seemed more confusing than normal, but that was almost entirely in the background and she started purring, happy to have all her mates wrapped around her. Darcy noticed that each of her mates also smelled _way_ better than they normally did, and she tried to pin them down so she could keep sniffing at them when they tried to get up. Skye said something about at least six more hours based on a smell, but Darcy wasn't really listening—she was far more interested in keeping Maria from escaping. Unfortunately for Darcy, the wily alpha pinned Darcy to the bed under her so as to keep Darcy's wandering hands still and to keep Darcy from nibbling Maria's neck. Darcy had only gotten one little nip in—okay maybe two—before the alpha deftly flipped their positions and pinned Darcy face-down under her. Darcy wriggled on the bed and arched her back, unsuccessfully trying to throw Maria off, and only catching bits of the conversation between her three mates. One thing that did catch her attention was that Natasha was going into work.

"You're leaving?" Darcy asked in dismay, and was surprised to find that her voice was raspy and an octave lower than normal. Darcy ceased her struggles and fell limp against the bed, unable to keep her attention on other things while she was trying to focus on the conversation.

Natasha was instantly at Darcy's elbow. "Baby, just for a half day, and we'll be right back after that." Natasha ran her fingers through Darcy's hair, which Darcy absolutely loved, and Darcy hummed appreciatively and tried to lick and bite up Natasha's arm.

"Tasha, you should probably get ready while I hold her," Maria said, and Darcy frowned at Maria over her shoulder. Darcy started to twisting again to try and at least face Maria so Darcy could kiss and nibble on Maria if the alpha wasn't going to let Darcy use her hands, but then instinctively Darcy stilled completely when she felt Maria sniffing at Darcy's neck. This was _exactly_ the kind of attention Darcy craved right now. Darcy started purring again, and as the little puffs of air indicating where Maria was sniffing moved around Darcy's body, Darcy opened herself more in those spots, tilting her head to give more access, spreading her limbs open wide. Maria occasionally growled into Darcy's skin, making the omega shiver.

Then suddenly Skye was sitting down on the edge of the bed next to Darcy, wearing her SHIELD uniform and looking damn sexy in it. Darcy peeled her eyes away from Skye's body to what was in Skye's hands when she put them on the bed next to Darcy, showing a plate of food. Natasha stepped around Skye to set a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice on the nightstand—Darcy's favorite. Darcy tried to get up onto her hands and knees on the bed so she could crawl over and onto Skye, but Skye had a fork and piece of omelet next to Darcy's mouth, and Darcy rumbled and accepted the bite, feeling pleased that her mate wanted to feed her.

Darcy had the sensation that they were each trying to take turns distracting her from something, but then Skye swapped with Natasha, and something about the former assassin seemed to suck out Darcy's entire will to do anything else that wasn't staring at Natasha. Darcy could write whole books about how sexy Natasha was, if only her brain wasn't so fuzzy and she could think of more words than just 'sexy'. Darcy ate the whole damn omelet and drank all the orange juice at Natasha's urging, with the Russian's eyes begging her like that. It was entirely unfair, but Darcy in no way wanted it to stop.

When Natasha said she had to go, Darcy absolutely refused, but when Natasha bribed her with a kiss, Darcy found she couldn't say no, not to that kiss. Natasha promised that she'd be right back, she just had to go get something really quickly, and suddenly Darcy realized she was alone in the apartment. Just then JARVIS started talking to her, and although Darcy had trouble understanding what he said—it was like everything he said was in a different register than what she needed to hear—she managed to follow JARVIS' suggestion that she go look at the nest. Maybe Natasha would like to be in there with her when she got back. So Darcy stood up, and on unaccountably shaky legs, she made her way over to the nesting closet.

Finding all the comfy pillows and blankets where she and Skye had arranged them, Darcy flopped down in the middle of the pile of softness—luckily all the sturdy pillows and been pushed to the side already, so it was just soft and cushy. For Darcy it was like swimming in a pile of softness and she rolled around happily, grabbing a pillow or blanket and rubbing it against her neck or face. She noticed that the nest didn't smell as strongly of her as it should, so she went around the room and thoroughly scent marked everything. Darcy thought she heard JARVIS say something at a couple points, but she was too distracted to really pay attention. Eventually, she started yawning, and despite having just woken up she felt a little sleepy, so she looked over to make sure the nest door was closed, then gathered her pillows and soft blankets around her and settled in to nap until her mates were back.

====

Maria got into the office fairly quickly, having only showered and gotten dressed before escaping the apartment with just some breakfast bars. She was feeling extra aggressive and also slightly light-headed, but honestly that was to be expected after basically having her nose pressed against a near-heat omega for twenty minutes this morning. _That_ had certainly been an interesting way to wake up. Today was supposed to be a partial day anyway, since they couldn't pinpoint the exact hour that Darcy's heat would start. After checking in with a few of her teams, reminding them that she'd be off for the next few days, Maria skipped her office and went straight to the director's office, ignoring all the stares from coworkers as she went. Maria could only guess how she looked—frazzled? angry?—but she was certain she probably smelled like near-heat omega. That scent was not at all subtle and clung to everything, so Maria was sure that it had stuck to her, even after she had showered and dressed in fresh clothes.

Getting permission to enter after knocking, Maria strode into Director Fury's office and came to attention in front of the desk. Fury just gave her one slow blink, which was probably the only acknowledgment of his surprise over seeing her in his office first thing in the morning.

Maria decided to just jump right in. "Sir, I'm going to only be in for a partial day today, so I wanted to check with you for anything particularly urgent to focus on while I'm in."

"Assistant Director Hill, you have already been cleared for leave when your mate is in heat, and I can smell you from all the way over here. What are you still doing at work?"

Maria fidgeted. "Um, we have reason to believe she still needs a few hours yet, sir. It would be best if I weren't home to uhhhh, complicate matters until then."

Fury pinned her with a single beady eye for several long moments. "Well, if you insist, I believe there _is_ something that you can do while you're here at work—something that only _you_ can take care of."

Judging by the expression on the director's face, Maria suddenly realized that this might not be about work at all.

"Tell me, Agent Hill, why is it that you and your two mates that work in SHIELD, have all asked for pack leave due to heat, when the one omega in your pack is currently _on_ SHIELD premises?" Fury stared at her for a bit, dragging it out. "Has your pack grown without your informing HR—again?"

Maria blinked twice. "Sweet Jesus, I hope not, sir—three mates is plenty already."

"I have been told by people with large packs that it only gets better the more are in a pack. It's not something to be ashamed of."

"I don't doubt that sir, but that is not the case here." Fury didn't respond and simply stared at her, as if trying to draw the answer out, and Maria caved. "Alright sir, this is still highly private and confidential, but ... do you know of a plant called Hatchet's Boxweed, also known as Omega's Kiss? It's sometimes sold as supplements."

Fury blinked at Hill, processing this information, then finally said, "I assume _you're_ not using it."

"No, sir," Maria said, relieved that she didn't have to explain any further.

"I see." The Director leaned back in his chair and considered Hill. "Very well, go get some work done, but I want your ass out of here in three hours, or I will come find you myself—you absolutely reek, and you'll probably just disrupt everyone around you unless you hide the entire time in your office." Then Fury actually smiled, which was a rather unnerving sight. "Or, may I suggest the sparring room? I understand there will probably be quite the brawl going on shortly."

====

Natasha was fortunate that she was scheduled to train agents in the gym today. She'd left Skye in the now cleared prep area, and walked out to address the room of agents. Natasha had already requested and been cleared to do this special training exercise, since it wasn't exactly often that SHIELD was able to have access to a near-heat scent without actually being a cause for danger. Most SHIELD agents had already been exposed to near-heat scent in their lives, but almost none of them had ever needed to fight next to someone in near-heat or against someone in near-heat.

The agents in the sparring room lined up at attention when Natasha walked in. She already knew that her own appearance was giving the agents clues about what they were about to do—her overly flushed skin and dilated eyes were fairly obvious after having been in close contact with Darcy. Natasha quickly informed them all that they would be attempting to maintain control when exposed to near-heat scent, and laid out ground rules. She sent off everyone to pair up and warm up, and to put on protective gear for those who hadn't already done so.

Natasha then pulled open the prep room door and let Skye come out. The room was full of new recruits like Skye but also more advanced agents, to give everyone a little experience fighting against more skilled opponents. Like Skye, the junior agents had already received and passed through their basic combat training. Natasha herself would be the one going through warm up with Skye, since she didn't want to trust any of the others to that. In fact, Natasha didn't trust any of this all that much, and Natasha would never have agreed to it if it hadn't been to Skye's benefit with her combat training.

Some of the other trainers had suggested that Natasha try it to give Skye experience against attackers who were under the influence of her scent—and ensuring Skye's safety through more training was high on the Black Widow's list of priorities. Natasha had also asked that a few of SHIELD's most advanced fighters be standing by, ready to break up fights—and she'd asked some of the Avengers as well, although she didn't trust the control of everyone, particularly not Tony. So instead only Steve, Clint, and Bruce were leaning against the wall nearby. Some agents might question her inclusion of Bruce Banner, when by definition the Hulk was uncontrolled, but Natasha knew that on more than one occasion, the Hulk had been in the presence of near-heat omegas and had been totally unaffected by the scent—in one particularly notable incident, Hulk had stood guard over a fully-in-heat omega for several hours before the omega could be safely extracted. So Hulk, and therefore Bruce, were on her safe list, at least in this context.

As Skye and Natasha warmed up, she noted that several of the other sparring pairs were glancing over at them, probably getting gusts of the scent that was being blown off them by the many vents circulating the air in the room. Finally, Natasha checked in with Skye, and then told the whole room to prepare.

"As a reminder, each of you are to try and pin our stand-in omega to the mat for at least three seconds _without_ losing your head to the heat-scent. The stand-in omega will try to prevent the pin by whatever means she sees fit. Some of you will probably end up with bloody noses or lips, because this is a simulation of what an actual near-heat omega would be like and in a real situation they would _not_ be holding back. You, however, must learn how to hold back, because you need to learn how to peacefully restrain a target, even when that target is covered in heat-scent.

"This is just near-heat, so it's not actually as strong as full-heat, but having full-heat in a sparring room is rather dangerous, and this way you can prepare without being overwhelmed. Now, before we begin, are there any questions?"

A hand in the back went up. "Agent Romanov, is uh, the stand-in omega your mate?"

"Yes, she is—so trust me when I say that I will remember who forgets to pull their punches."

The question asker seemed disappointed to find out that Skye was taken—Skye seemed to recognize this, and the young omega suddenly looked extremely smug. There were a couple more questions about whether various holds or throws were allowed, and then it was time to start. The other trainers had split the agents into groups of ten, and each ten would be allowed to watch the combat with Skye—the rest were forced to practice in pairs while they waited their group's turn.

Natasha assigned the first fighter and let them go, only allowing the agent a couple of minutes to have a go. The first agent was a fairly steady fighter but new recruit, and Natasha was fairly certain the beta had never smelled near-heat before. The man had his eyes opened wide as he approached Skye, and his first few moves were clumsy and unsure as he tried to adjust to the smell. When the time was up, she cycled in the next, a more advanced alpha fighter. The woman advanced and managed to grab Skye before Skye kneed the other agent in the groin and then punched her in the sternum, sending her flying backwards.

Sending the woman back to the circle, Natasha gave Skye a minute to collect herself. The alpha had closed fast and Skye looked like she'd had an adrenaline spike from it. When Skye nodded, Natasha sent the next. After they'd finished the whole group, the trainers cycled in the next group. By the time Skye finished three groups, her legs were shaky, and she needed a bit of a breather. Natasha told the trainers to prep for phase three, and decided to announce the new rules while Skye rested.

This time there would be teams fighting—a Team Blue protecting Skye, and Team Red trying to attack. The win conditions were the same—pin Skye to the mat for three seconds—but now they would have to worry about other combatants interfering, and everyone within a certain radius would be subject to the heat-scent. The defenders would be particularly affected, being the closest ones. Natasha was also going to be fighting on Team Blue, but would be toning down her attacks to be more in-line with the challenge, but since she was also covered in heat-scent it would be silly to not use her. Natasha actually would have had another group of single attacks trying to pin herself, but Natasha had been feeling too overprotective, and wouldn't let any of the other trainers guard Skye.

The agents put on their colored jerseys, and the training began. Initially the defenders handily held their ground, but gradually as they became less coordinated with their exposure to the scent. One of the newer trainees of the defenders actually turned towards Skye at one point with a growl, but Natasha had quickly knocked him across the mat with a punch, and he'd had to sit out on the sidelines until the next round—once he regained consciousness.

Suddenly the whistle blew announcing the swap, and everyone but Natasha and Skye switched from defenders to aggressors, and vice versa. Skye and Natasha just switched their jersey color from blue to red to match the new defending team. This time the Team Red defenders really started out strongly, since the aggressors had gotten so uncoordinated after standing next to Skye for the entire previous round, but the battle seemingly changed in an instant—suddenly, all the Team Blue aggressors were attacking with more fervor and the defenders were being pushed back. A few even managed to make it in past the inner circle to where Skye was and tackle her from behind, but Skye's instincts to fight like a fucking hellcat kicked in. The first alpha got his nose broken, and then a beta got a broken arm, and a couple omegas managed to sneak past and got bloodied mouths. A couple times Natasha darted over to Skye's side and growled in a deadly warning, but Skye's quiet but firm "baby" reminded Natasha where she was.

The attack quickly descended into a general melee and the trainers standing by as referees had to blow the whistle to signal an end to the round, but there were a few combatants who wouldn't stop despite multiple whistle blows. The others who listened were ordered to step back and form rows along the wall—and that also meant that the way to Skye was clear for those who didn't stop fighting. Three people dashed forward, and Natasha took them out with quick fists, rendering each unconscious, and then Steve and Clint were there.

"Take her into the next room," Clint said, as a couple of the agents who had previously been lining up lost control and charged.

Natasha nodded, and with a gentle but firm grip, put her arm around Skye and herded her into the prep room. "Are you okay?" Natasha said as soon as the door shut behind them, running her hands and eyes over Skye's body to check for injury.

"Baby, I'm fine," Skye said with a smile, and then kissed Natasha. The scent and Skye's lips made Natasha's brain go a little heat-fuzzy, and she growled, nipping at Skye's lower lip.

The door to the room popped open and Natasha spun, prepared to attack—and then Maria stepped into the room, and Natasha slumped in relief.

"I think we need to head back, considering that Nat lost a little bit of control and how wild those agents just were. I was watching from the observation area," Maria said, frowning at Natasha and Skye. "I thought it might be too much if I joined in the fighting. JARVIS says that Darcy's napping in her nest right now, but I think she's probably much further a long than we thought before."

Natasha looked at the clock on the wall. "It's only been two and a half hours."

"Yeah, and that's probably two hours too long. Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long delays recently! I got caught up in work again but hopefully should be more free to post now (especially over this next weekend).


	24. Opening up a bottle of pure sex (smut)

Walking back into the apartment was like opening up a bottle of pure sex and putting her nose into it—or at least, that's how Skye thought of it. Maria actually whimpered at the scent, and closed the door behind the three of them with a snap. Skye wasted no time and rushed immediately to the bathroom that was right by the door, stripping off her clothes and jumping into the shower—she barely waited for the water to get warm. Then, as soon as she washed the sweat away, she got out again and toweled herself dry.

Natasha was prepping some quick food for the three of them, and wouldn't let Skye go to Darcy until she ate something, saying that it might be a while before they ate again. JARVIS confirmed that Darcy was still napping, and that was the only reason Skye agreed to eat. She didn't even bother to put clothes on—she just took the sandwich in one hand and slung the towel over her shoulder with the other, making the terrycloth look like a busted toga. Natasha snorted at her, and took the towel to wrap it around Skye snugly. The young hacker wiggled against her in thanks, since her mouth and hands were all full, and Natasha slapped her butt playfully. Skye finished off the sandwich in record time, with the former assassin clucking at her in disapproval—but the omega had been waiting too long to hold back, and she just desperately wanted to get in the nest with Darcy. Skye guessed that she was probably at least slightly in sympathy heat, which would make her raging libido—and the earlier reactions of the agents at training—make much more sense.

But understanding _why_ Skye needed to get in that nest and make wild love to one of the women of her dreams did not actually lessen that need. _At all_.

"Yeah," Skye said, wiping her face and hands off with the wet washcloth that Natasha handed her. "I'm gonna go in there and wake her up."

Natasha smirked at her, but Skye didn't wait around to find out what else Natasha had to say, and she darted into the hall by the huge master bedroom where their nest closet was. The door to the nest was closed, and Skye could hear the master bath shower running—that had to be Maria—so Skye went over to the sex toys drawer next to the bed and grabbed out the one that she'd been saving for Darcy's heat. She strapped the harness around her hips and tested the fit, and then she went over to open up the nest door and peered in. The low lighting didn't illuminate a lot, but Skye's eyes were immediately drawn to where Darcy lay, completely naked, flushed and squirming even in sleep.

Softly closing the door behind her, Skye said quietly, "Hey baby."

Darcy stirred and opened her eyes—and Skye sucked in a sharp breath when she saw just how dilated Darcy's eyes were. "Skye," she said huskily, and just like that Skye was at Darcy's side.

"Hey baby, how you feeling?" Skye said softly, hands reaching out to caress that beautiful body almost without Skye's conscious thought. Remembering that she needed to check Darcy's readiness, she paused and asked, "Can I touch you?"

"Mmhmm," Darcy hummed in agreement, taking one Skye's hands and placing it on her body, and then made some of the most incredibly arousing soft noises of pleasure as Skye stroked her sides, and chest, and ass. Darcy squirmed in Skye's arms, letting the other omega reach new places with her caresses, and Darcy's eyes dropped to the strap-on around Skye's waist, saying huskily, "I am high as a kite, and I want you so bad right now." Darcy reached up and pulled Skye down onto her front and started rubbing against the other omega, and suddenly Skye was overwhelmed with heat-scent.

Moaning, Skye nuzzled into Darcy's neck and rolled her hips, rubbing the dildo against the in-heat omega's abs. Darcy gasped and tilted her head to give Skye more access to the extremely sensitive skin of her neck, simultaneously wiggling her hips to try and get the strap-on to the place where she needed it.

"Skye," Darcy breathed, "I need you, need you inside me."

"I'm coming baby," Skye said promptly, lifting her head up from Darcy's neck so she could line herself up properly. Darcy whimpered when she touched the tip to Darcy's folds, and then Skye was sinking in with a loud moan, watching the toy slowly enter her mate—Skye could watch that all day.

Darcy arched her back, calling out Skye's name, and pulled Skye down flush against her body. Skye started finding a rhythm with her movements, keeping them slow but steady, and when she found her face pressed right next to Darcy's amazing breasts, she couldn't help but start mouthing at them. Darcy's skin was so soft, and Darcy was moaning and rubbing against her, her cries getting louder quickly. Skye knew from personal experience that the other woman was already close to climax just from the heat alone, so when Darcy suddenly gripped her hard and cried out Skye's name over and over, she knew Darcy had just crashed over the edge.

The sound and feeling of Darcy coming against her made Skye's entire body flush with sudden heat, and she moaned, suddenly on the edge herself. She helped Darcy ride out her orgasm, but Skye was moaning the whole time and fisting the sheets. Skye didn't know how long she could hold on, and then Darcy wrapped her legs around Skye's hips and drew Skye all the way into her, hard, making the toy rub against her in just the right spot. Skye cried out, pressing down hard into Darcy's body, hips bucking spasmodically as she climaxed as well. She dimly felt Darcy's hands on her hips helping her along.

====

Maria could already hear the sounds of sex before she'd even turned off the shower, and tried to hurry up her washing before her body decided that it couldn't take all this stimuli and started to shift—she'd already been having to concentrate just to maintain control, and had ever since setting foot inside their apartment. She stepped out of the shower and made quick work of toweling herself off, then turned around to find Natasha standing there holding out a plate for her. Sandwiches weren't exactly gourmet, but they were fast and filling and Maria had no doubt they'd probably be eating a lot of them over the next couple days when they were either too busy or too tired to make anything else.

Ordering food was a dicey proposition, since it meant that someone from the tower had to go out and get the food—and even though it was someone they knew, that person would have to risk heat-scent seeping out the door to deliver it. JARVIS had initiated his heat protocols so the scents should stay in as much as possible, but heat-scent was tenacious and wouldn't be easy to get rid of if they opened the door. The first time would probably be safe, but they had all just opened up the door when they came home, and Maria was pretty sure the hallway was probably already coated in heat-scent now.

Accepting the plate, Maria smiled at her mate and asked, "Did you eat already?"

Natasha nodded, and then a particularly loud cry made them both turn and stare at the wall—it seemed Darcy had just orgasmed, possibly not for the first time. Maria's mouth was already watering, and not for food, so she tried to eat as quickly as she could.

"You're not going to go in there yet?" Maria asked, surprised.

"I think I should let them both work out a little of their sex drive first—those two have been really sexually charged for about a week. Besides, it's not like Darcy's really going to get tired for a while," Natasha said with a smirk, her eyes fully dilated now.

Maria answered with a slow smile, and pulled Natasha in for a passionate kiss. "Definitely not," Maria said after she pulled away, "but I still want to watch." She dusted off her hands and face, and the two walked over and opened the nest door. Before even ducking inside, Maria's knees buckled, catching herself on Natasha and the doorframe, and found herself shifting, clit stiffening and extending very rapidly. She recovered quickly and stepped inside, letting Natasha close the door behind them.

Skye was collapsed and breathing heavy between Darcy's legs, mouthing at Darcy's neck weakly. Darcy's legs were still twitching, wrapped around Skye's waist, and the sight of the two of them laying together like that made Maria harden the rest of the way, standing out almost perfectly straight. A moaning noise from Maria's shoulder let her know that Natasha had been similarly affected by the tableau. Darcy heard them and turned her head to look, stretching one hand out towards them and grasping at the air, unconsciously beckoning. Both Maria and Natasha rumbled and went forward, kneeling next to the other two. Natasha promptly fell on the two omegas, pressing her face into their necks, sucking and licking and nibbling. Skye moaned and rolled her hips, making Darcy gasp and grip Skye tighter against her.

Maria went to all fours and hovered over them, growling possessively and nipping at Skye's shoulder. Skye cried out and presented for her alpha, but Maria instead wrapped her arms around all three of her mates, trailing nips up Skye's neck and onto Darcy's. With Natasha's help, they rolled the two omegas over gently so Darcy was on all fours over Skye. Skye's strap-on had slipped out of Darcy during the roll, but Natasha squeezed herself into the gap between the two omegas, licking all over Skye's thighs and under her harness. Somewhere along the way Natasha had put on her own strap-on, and she was kissing her way up Skye's body till Natasha's toy rested against the younger woman's inner thigh. Skye moaned and spread her legs for her mate.

Meanwhile, Darcy was on her knees with her hands resting on Natasha's body for balance while Maria knelt behind her and mouthed Darcy's neck. Maria grazed her teeth against the base of her neck, finally biting down harder but not breaking the skin. Darcy cried out and her hips jerked forward involuntarily into Natasha's, causing both her and Skye to moan.

"Maria," Darcy moaned, her hands finding Natasha's hips and squeezing tightly. Maria settled herself between Darcy's legs, nudging them wider, and then gently pushed Darcy forward so she was leaning more over Natasha. Maria was reluctant to let go over her hold on Darcy's neck, but she had to in order to get in the right position to enter the omega, so she briefly growled and pressed her teeth down harder, holding that for a few moments while she relished the sounds Darcy and her other mates were making. Then Maria released her grip on Darcy's neck, and pulled back slightly so she could put her tip against Darcy's entrance.

Both of them moaned when Maria began sliding inward—Darcy was extremely wet already. Maria started a steady but not rapid pace, but Darcy was already so excited that she started crying out and moving her hips to get Maria inside her deeper and faster. Maria could feel the omega already squeezing around her, and knew Darcy was on the edge, so she gripped Darcy's hips hard and started thrusting in faster, moaning at the incredible sensation. Darcy came almost immediately, falling forward onto Natasha with shaky arms, Natasha and Skye both crying out with her. Maria rode Darcy through her climax, the omega's clenching on her length drawing out throaty cries from her as well. As Darcy's orgasm ran its course, Natasha's cries started coming faster and increasing in pitch, and then Natasha started pumping into Skye fast and hard, the younger omega under her crying out Natasha's name.

Maria rolled the still-orgasming Darcy with her onto their sides so they were facing Natasha and Skye, continuing to pump firmly, so Darcy wouldn't get jostled by Natasha's wild bucking but could still share in their moment. Darcy grabbed onto Natasha and Skye's arms, calling out their names. That seemed to push Natasha over the edge, because the beta pressed down hard suddenly and cried out, calling out to both Darcy and Skye. Skye spread her legs more, opening herself to Natasha's deep thrusting, and then she was crying out as she crashed over the edge too, pushing herself up hard onto the beta's strap-on.

All this orgasming around her made Darcy start to get closer to climax again, and Maria focused on continuing her pace, making her strokes long and deep and enjoying the wet tightness of her in-heat mate. Darcy arched her back into Maria with a moan, leaning her head to the side to expose her neck to Maria. Seeing the soft skin beckoning her, Maria couldn't _not_ press her teeth into her mate's neck again, gripping hard with her teeth and growling. Darcy cried out Maria's name and the alpha growled again, pressing her shaft in hard. Maria could feel Darcy getting close, and she was also nearing her own climax. Running her hands over Darcy's breasts and down to her wet folds, Maria increased her pace, making Darcy's cries increase in pitch rapidly. Maria felt their other two mates' hands also running over Darcy's body, felt them touching her where she was thrusting hard into Darcy, and Maria cried out into the omega's neck.

"Maria, I need it, bite into me Maria!" Darcy gasped in between cries.

Arms wrapped around Maria as she thrust hard into Darcy, and then Maria bit down hard, sinking her teeth into the soft flesh of her mate's neck. Darcy's yell as she came was powerful and she bucked wildly, all three of her mates holding on tightly. The sensation of biting and Darcy coming instantly sent Maria over the edge, pressing into Darcy's tight opening hard—and then through the throes of her orgasm, Maria found Darcy seemed to get even tighter. Dimly the alpha realized her knot was forming, and it was all she could do to continue pumping into the omega until the knot was too big to move any more, and then Maria pressed it deeper until she was fully sheathed inside Darcy.

Maria was only partly aware of hands rubbing over her face and arms—most of her awareness was centered on the taste of Darcy's skin in her mouth and how good Darcy felt around her, still clenching and pulsing in response to Maria's now weak attempts to thrust despite the knot. Gradually she felt her other two mates switch to kissing and licking and sucking on her and Darcy's bodies as the two lay entwined, groaning whenever their other two mates licked where they were tied together. Maria didn't know how long she laid there with her teeth and knot buried in Darcy, but eventually her knot went down and she pulled out—Darcy was trying to buck against her again, and one of her other mates would have to step up to keep the heat-driven omega sated while Maria rested. Rolling onto her back, Maria drifted into a sated doze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have two "alternate timeline" sections to post, but I can't decide if I should put them in their own separate works, or if I should make them as just random bonus chapters within this work (since they are in the Making Soft Sounds AU). Normally I'd opt to make them a separate work, but I tried that with my AvaLance work and looking back I'm not sure if I've exactly written them out enough that they could stand alone by themselves. Both of these alternate/satellite stories are just barely pre-Skye and feature Darcy having an accidental heat, prompting her coming out as omega.
> 
> I guess I could post them up as separate works and later merge them as chapters later if I wanted to? What do y'all think about Option A (separate works) vs Option B (chapters with some kind of [ALT] tag in the chpt title)?


	25. JARVIS, what day is it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for some pack interactions with Clint/Phil + new mate :D

Darcy's eyes fluttered open and she breathed in deeply, smelling the wonderful scents of her mates around her—and lots and lots of sex. Somehow, the scent of all that sex didn't actually make her feel aroused the way it would have normally, and in her current mostly-lucid state she wondered if her heat was preventing or circumventing that in some way. Her heat certainly had made her hornier—in fact, she'd spent much of the last who-knows-how-long almost constantly close to orgasm, which was fun but honestly pretty tiring. The scent of sex didn't seem to increase the horniness though, and instead made her feel safe and centered. It was a weird change, but most of this entire heat had been new and weird, so Darcy just shrugged it off.

She frowned, trying to figure out what time it was, or how long she'd been in heat. The fact that she didn't know how long it had been was bothering her a little.

"JARVIS?" Darcy croaked, her throat dry and scratchy—obviously all the heat sex had taken its toll on her vocal cords.

The AI responded in a much reduced volume from normal. "How may I be of service, Ms. Lewis?"

Darcy looked around until she found where the sports drink bottles had been stashed in the nest—fortunately her mates had stocked them well before succumbing to the demands of Darcy's heat—then grabbed a bottle and pulled it open, drinking thirstily. When she felt like she wasn't going to expire just talking, she asked, "JARVIS, what day is it? How long have I been in here?"

"It has been roughly 51 hours since you entered your nest with heat-signs, so I estimate it is currently the beginnings of Day 3 of your heat."

"Huh." Darcy drank some more, and before she realized it, she'd finished the entire bottle. Grabbing another, the heated omega crawled around her passed-out mates and to the nest door.

"Ms. Lewis, are you sure you should leave the nest right now?"

"I'm just going to get something to eat, JARVIS," Darcy said, her voice getting scratchy again. Her legs felt really floppy and uncoordinated, but mostly responded to her commands, so she stumbled out of the nest and towards the kitchen. She could faintly hear JARVIS talking behind her, and wondered why he wasn't projecting his voice out of the living room or kitchen speakers. Ignoring that problem for now, Darcy stumbled over to the fridge and peered inside.

Her mates had stocked quite a bit of leftovers before Darcy's heat had started—she certainly remembered a lot of cooking going on—but it looked like they had made a serious dent in them already. Darcy looked at the various containers, considering, then walked over to the pantry and looked inside to see what was there. While she was eyeing the boxes of mac and cheese and trying to think if she felt like making something, Darcy heard a sound come from the direction of the nest.

"Baby?"

Darcy turned to see a bleary-eyed Natasha stumbling from the hallway to the nest. The super spysassin's hair was stuck up funny in the back and she had pillow lines on her face, and the combination was absolutely adorable. Darcy's face lit up in a brilliant smile. "Tasha," she greeted.

Natasha smiled in automatic response. "What are you doing?"

"I'm thinking about making something," Darcy said, looking back at the boxes of mac and cheese.

"Oh no, baby—you sit down, I'll get it."

She knew Natasha wouldn't be satisfied seeing Darcy standing up, so the omega let herself be ushered to one of the kitchen stools. "I'm not going to fall over," she protested weakly. Honestly, she was getting a bit tired just standing there, but Darcy wasn't _that_ tired.

"Did you want mac and cheese? I saw you staring at the boxes—or did you want something else? I was going to make some stir fry."

Darcy giggled. "You're making stir-fry for breakfast?"

The spysassin chuckled, saying, "Darcy, it's just past noon—although I can make breakfast if that's what you want."

"No no—actually stir-fry sounds pretty good right now. I was just surprised that other people enjoy having weird foods for breakfast like I do, but like you said it's already lunchtime, so ...." Darcy trailed off and gestured vaguely to the fridge and stove, urging the spy to continue.

Natasha smiled at her mate's antics and pulled out a container of what turned out to be pre-chopped veggies. When Darcy expressed curiosity Natasha narrated as she went, talking about how stir fry was so easy and fast to make that it was one of the things they'd prepped ahead of time for her heat. After she dumped it into a pan along with some ground meat from a different container, Natasha went over to open up the rice cooker.

Darcy stared at the machine. "We have a rice cooker?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah, we got it specifically for your heat—it turns out that rice cookers can be programmed to cook at a specific time and even date so we can always have fresh rice ready. Also, once the rice is cooked, it can sit in the cooker for a day or two and still be good to eat. It's perfect for heat meals."

"Wow, and the rice doesn't get hard or crunchy?" Darcy asked in awe.

"Sometimes the top edges get a little hard, but we just dump it out and put in new rice when it does that. See? This rice is from last night." Natasha held out a spoonful to her omega.

"Huh, yeah that's fine, actually that's perfect rice," Darcy said after tasting it.

"Yep, that's why we got it," Natasha said, sounding pleased.

"You guys sure did your research for this heat," the omega said in an impressed voice.

Natasha preened at the compliment, and to Darcy's amusement, threw on a shirt that had been left hanging next to a stove as well as an apron that read "fuck the chef".

"I like your apron," Darcy said with a grin.

"Skye bought it," Natasha said as she started stirring the veggies in the pan.

Darcy laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"

While Natasha cooked, she coaxed Darcy into taking a shower, and it was true that Darcy did feel a bit greasy and sticky from all that sex, so she took her mate's suggestion—despite thoroughly enjoying watching Natasha cook without any pants on. By the time Darcy got out of the shower, Skye had gotten up and was half-melted over the island and one of the stools, head resting over the countertop and eyes mostly closed. Grinning at the other omega, Darcy walked over and started to pet soothing circles over the sleepy woman's back and hair.

"Morning, cutie," Darcy said, smiling broadly at the cute squirms that Skye was doing under her hands, still lying on the countertop and mumbling sleepily. "Look at this adorableness, Tasha."

Natasha turned from where she was cooking and smiled happily at the two of them. "She is pretty cute," the spysassin agreed.

"I can't wait to see if you're all cute and squirmy like this when it's your heat," Darcy continued, still stroking Skye.

Skye huffed. "I am a demanding sex fiend when in heat—just you wait and see," she muttered.

"I don't doubt it," Natasha said from the stove with a snort of amusement.

Darcy giggled. "I guess it's good we're having my heat first as training."

Skye huffed again. "Some training. Your heat is _brutal_ , Darcy."

Darcy frowned. "What? This is different from a normal heat?"

Both Skye and Natasha gave her incredulous looks.

Shaking her head, Skye explained, "Honey, your heats have rendered _three mates_ so tired that we weren't up before you to cook, and we even prepped to make cooking easier. Normal heats can be taken care of by just one or two mates. JARVIS had to wake up Natasha because you were wandering around the kitchen unsupervised while in heat—that shouldn't happen."

"Oh, is that what he was doing?"

A throat-clearing noise came from the overhead speakers. "My apologies, Ms. Lewis, but I thought you might like some assistance and company."

"Well, you're not wrong," Darcy replied with a chuckle.

====

Sitting in his perch overlooking the Stark Tower landing pad, Agent Clint Barton was ruminating—again.

Clint was a fairly smart guy and very observant—as far as being visually observant with respect to spotting targets he was nearly unparalleled, hence his Avenger name Hawkeye, and with observing social cues he was significantly less so but still pretty good—so he knew that something was different with Natasha's pack. He had always known Darcy had had something major about her past hidden, and from a few clues dropped by his partner's pack he started to piece things together. Finding out that all of Natasha's pack was going to be on heat leave was the final straw, because it became fairly obvious to him that it wasn't Skye that was going into heat, and then all the pieces clicked into place. Now all the gifts to Darcy made sense, as well as the weird chemical-y alpha smell that she'd had when he'd run into her a couple days before their pack's heat leave.

Clint had been receiving gifts as well, which was what made him particularly pay attention to the gifts for Darcy. The archer had of course known who his gifts were from—Clint blushed just thinking of it—despite the lack of tags, and they had been been appearing with increasing frequency in Barton's favorite perches or relaxation spots. Some also appeared in his cubby at SHIELD, some had been delivered to his apartment, and once there had even been one in his locker—that was the one time where the gift delivery had actually bothered him, since it meant someone had broken into his locked personal space, but it had only been that one time so Clint figured that his alpha had probably realized his mistake.

The gifts themselves had been touching. Some of them were Clint's favorite snacks, or this really nice coffee that Barton had never heard of before but had been _so good_ that Natasha had had to step in and take it away from him before he overdosed on caffeine—he had probably had like five cups in an hour and a half and his hands were starting to shake too much to snipe. Other gifts were more practical or more intimate—like the new combat knife with custom handgrip, or a bodywash that Phil had somehow gotten to smell _just like_ Phil's alpha scent, and that had turned Clint on so much he'd had to switch to taking showers only at night. And then there were the date nights with Phil. The first one had been very PG and had been more about Phil trying to show his intent to care for Clint more than anything else. Since then the dates had gotten significantly less PG, and most nights Phil now came over to spend the night. Barton flushed again recalling their nighttime activities, needing to readjust himself slightly in his perch.

He was rather glad that Natasha's pack had grown so large so quickly, since it had made them both move into the nicer family apartments. Now Clint had an entire closet just for his weaponry, which Phil was endlessly amused by—although the archer had had to remind him that Phil himself had been contributing significantly to Barton's arsenal. The adjoining door between the two packs' spaces was also a rather nice thing, although less so during a heat. It had been closed the entire time during Darcy's heat of course, but since the inter-apartment door wasn't as well sealed as the hallways, every so often Clint and Phil got hit with a puff of heat air that snuck under the door—and then suddenly the two would have increased sexual drive and need to work it out in the bedroom. The one time it had happened when Phil wasn't there, Barton had shot off a text alert to Phil and he swore the alpha must have run back the whole way to the apartment, because it took Coulson less than five minutes to show up panting at his door. They made a point of both being in the apartment only when they were together after that, at least until their neighbor pack's heat was over.

Darcy had in fact come over to visit them that morning. She was still 'high as a fucking kite' in Darcy's words, but she was on the other side of the heat now, when her scent was less demanding and more like a suggestion. As a brief nod to propriety she had taken a shower and had put on a shirt and loose shorts—she was still in heat after all, and clothes bothered her skin—but she'd needed to do something and all her mates were exhausted and still sleeping. Clint and Darcy had had a good laugh over that, how she had all this energy now but they were all passed out in the nest.

Phil had been very gentlemanly towards Darcy, but had had needed to stay on the other side of the room from her, as even her reduced scent was a bit too much for him. Darcy just smiled sweetly at the senior agent and told him to just wait till they found their own pack omega. Clint was glad in that moment that he'd never been attracted to Darcy, and so her scent didn't really make him want Darcy so much as just want sex. Honestly, Darcy was more like Barton's long-lost sarcastic sister, and he was glad she was able to visit despite her still being in heat.

Clint took a deep breath and resurfaced from his thoughts, stretching his arms surreptitiously in his perch. Two nights ago the Avengers had found a Hydra safehouse entirely by accident while tracking an illicit arms deal, and although Agent Barton had been on sniping duty and hadn't gotten much of the details, he knew that they had extracted two superpowered agents that had promptly defected to SHIELD. The two had been held at a nearby base the last two nights to run some tests and check for things like implanted tracking chips or Hydra cyanide pills, but now they had been cleared for release to the Avengers, who wanted the pair with them where they could be watched and guided. SHIELD was great, but they were a little underprepared to deal with superpowered agents without the Avengers' help.

Thus, Clint found himself on snipe duty watching the landing pad. He was there just in case things went south, but the archer in general found that he liked to sit back and observe new people before engaging with them anyway, so it wasn't any problem for him to be on duty right now anyway. If Barton were being honest, he would have been sitting up here anyway rather than in the greeting party on the pad. All the Avengers were present—with the notable exception of Natasha, for obvious reasons—and waiting for the arrival. Clint's earpiece beeped to let him know of the impending arrival, and the archer extended his bow, more as a stretch even though it was technically also preparation. The quinjet descended down to the pad, and the pilot shut the engines down and lowered the ramp. The first few people down the ramp were obviously SHIELD agents acting as guards, and then they stepped to the side at the end of the ramp, and two new people came down. They were dressed in some kind of jumpsuits that Barton didn't recognize as either Hydra or SHIELD, a man and a woman, and Clint at first wondered if they might be a mated pair, but then he noticed their facial similarity and realized they must be siblings.

The man in particular drew Agent Barton's attention—he was slim but with well-defined muscles, showing a wiry strength that wouldn't slow him down at all. He was definitely Clint's type, and the archer had to tear his attention away so he could also make an assessment of the woman. She was shorter and almost as well-built as her brother, and gave off a sense of quiet strength, her hair curling around her face as she glanced around the helipad. Neither gave any indication of aggression or the subtle tension that usually preceded combat, so Clint beeped the safe code through his comms. His clear wasn't really obligatory, just informative, but the archer didn't think the newbies would appreciate weapons being waved in their faces and so was trying assist by lowering tensions. Something about them, especially the man, made Clint want to look out for them and try to keep them out of trouble.

Gradually, the Avengers made their way off the landing pad and inside, after their initial introductions were done. Someone waved over towards Clint's perch, and both siblings—twins, Barton suddenly realized—looked over at him. The searching gazes made the hairs on his arms raise up, but not from any threat or warning. Then Stark interrupted the moment by putting his arms around the twins' shoulders, and started discussing who knows what with them in typical bombastic Tony fashion. The brother glanced up a couple more times at Clint's perch, brow furrowed.

Once everyone was off the pad and the SHIELD agents were relieved of duty to return to their normal tasks, Agent Barton hopped down lightly from his perch and ran along the edge of the roof to the grating over the ventilation shafts. For some reason, he didn't feel like using the hallways and doors, and Clint had a very healthy respect for his instincts so he followed where they led.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, alternate timeline works have been posted! Or the first chpt of each has been posted, they're just a few chpts each so I'm going to try and get them both all posted up this weekend. Everything is linked in this series for easy access.
> 
> As far as this fic goes (w/out alternate timelines), there are about 4-5 more chpts currently written depending on where I put the chpt cuts. After that it's back to writing for me!
> 
> Also sidenote: In this fic Wanda and Pietro are described slightly differently from their movie counterparts, because let's be honest, superhero movie/comic characters are always exaggerated towards the "ideal body" for each gender. So I've toned down Pietro a touch and made Wanda a bit more like someone who is active and fights and probably works out regularly.


	26. Breaking the sanctity of the nest

Clint padded along the heating ducts in a low crouch, his passage almost completely silent, until he was over the vent into the corner of the common room. He could hear voices, and by the sound of things all the Avengers were in the room now. Barton lifted the grating and set it noiselessly to the side, then he gripped the edge of the opening and went through it head-first, his practiced roll in mid-air set his feet underneath him and then, still holding on the edge of the grating opening with one hand, he pulled the grate back over his hands, and then let go, dropping himself the last few feet to the floor and also letting the grate fall back into place over him.

Clint dusted himself off and looked up to see both the twins looking at him with surprise. The woman turned to the closest Avenger, Steve, and asked, "Does he always make entrances like that?"

Steve gave her a one-shoulder shrug. "Yeah, pretty much," he said with a small smile.

The other twin however had his eyes locked on Clint, and the intensity of his gaze was almost palpable. After a few more moments where Barton and this new man just stared at each other, the woman walked over to her brother and nudged him. "Pietro," she said, in a low warning tone. The male twin didn't acknowledge her in any way, so focused was he on Clint.

Agent Barton continued meeting the gaze of the man, Pietro, and felt the need to introduce himself, now that he knew the brother's name. "I'm Clint," he said simply.

"Clint," Pietro repeated, and Clint couldn't help but notice that the man had a really nice voice, like melted chocolate in the air. Clint's lips twitched up in a slow smile.

By then, nearly everyone else in the room had stopped what they were doing to watch this exchange, understanding on a subliminal level that something important was happening here. Clint knew something important was happening too, but he still wasn't consciously aware of what it was, just that this new guy was incredibly interesting and that he really wanted to know more about him. Pietro's sister tried to say something again, possibly tell her brother to stop staring, but then Pietro started moving.

His first few steps were normal, and then Pietro zipped across the room faster than even Clint's eyes could track, stopping a couple paces away from the archer—and then he realized that the twin brother was demonstrating his superpowers for Clint. Only a little surprise in Barton's expression betrayed him, and then before he could do anything else, he was surrounded by Pietro's scent—the man was an omega and also, more importantly, was a potential mate. Clint inhaled sharply, leaning forward, and Pietro shuddered a little. He sniffed the air a few more times, and then leaned back, allowing the other man the next move.

Pietro stepped cautiously forward into Clint's personal space as he sniffed the air, and Clint found himself involuntarily stretching upwards, opening up his chest and neck to Pietro's scenting. When Pietro stepped yet closer and touched his nose to Clint's slightly raised chin, inhaling deeply and long, Clint's eyes fluttered shut.

"Well, fuck," a familiar voice said, interrupting the moment. "Why's everyone else finding their mates and I'm still stuck here?" Stark whined—having to make everything about him, as usual.

"Fuck off, Tony," Clint said, eyes still closed. He could feel Pietro's breath on his neck as the slightly shorter man laughed, and Clint grinned. Clint lowered his chin, angling his face to rub down Pietro's cheek as he did so, finally opening his eyes to look at his newest mate. "What do you say we get out of here and away from certain Avengers who can't keep their mouths shut?"

Pietro smiled and nodded, rubbing against Clint's face. When they walked back through the crowd of Avengers, Pietro's sister stepped up next to them and frowned, eyeing Clint up and down in obvious suspicion. Clint could now smell her too, and noticed she was an alpha.

"You can come too, if you want," Clint said. "It's not like we're going to be doing anything, just getting to know each other in a space where there isn't a crowd. Besides, my alpha is still at work and he'd be upset if he missed that." The archer grinned.

Pietro blinked up at him and slowly smiled, looking pleased. "Let's go then," he said to Clint. Pietro turned and grabbed his sister's hand. "Come on, Wanda."

Tony had quickly complained about not being the problem, and a couple of the Avengers had ribbed them good-naturedly about Clint not keeping the newbies all to himself, but soon the three were ensconced safely in Clint's pack apartment. Thankfully the fridge and pantry were fully stocked, and Clint immediately started offering various refreshments, including his amazing coffee—which Natasha had relinquished back to his control under orders that he wasn't allowed to have more than two cups a day.

Wanda had declined coffee and accepted just some ice water instead, saying that she didn't need more things making her anxious or jittery, still a little suspicious but polite. Pietro however, once Clint had extolled its virtues and said that it had been a recent gift from his alpha, accepted the coffee, and Clint busied himself around the kitchen preparing things for a later lunch while they chatted and waited for the coffee to brew. His two guests seated themselves around the kitchen island, although eventually Pietro got bored and started looking around the apartment.

Clint instantly urged him to look around wherever he liked, explaining the layout as he chopped things for a simple salad. When Pietro found Clint's arsenal and made a noise of surprise, Wanda went over to investigate as well, and chuckling Clint followed her. He pointed out his traditional weaponry and some of his more impressive gadgets to assist with movement or targeting, as well as the ones that were gifts from his alpha. Pietro and Wanda both wanted to hear more about Phil, and Clint got so distracted with gushing about his alpha that he almost missed the soft beep of the coffee maker finishing.

They wandered back to the kitchen, and Clint poured out his liquid heaven for this amazing new mate to try, and sat there hanging on his response while Pietro inhaled the smell of the coffee with a sigh and then tasted it. Pietro had such a pronounced reaction when the coffee hit his tongue that Barton worried that the omega had burned himself or that he hadn't like it, but as soon as Pietro swallowed he was gushing similarly about how good the coffee was, until Wanda also agreed to try a sip of his. She agreed that it was very good, but wasn't quite as in love with it as Clint or Pietro were. Laughing, the two siblings wandered over to the couch, Clint continuing with lunch prep. Clint couldn't help but thank his good fortune in both his mate and his mate's sister, who seemed to be a very caring woman and also was someone that Clint thought he could get along with.

Pietro plopped himself down on the couch—holding his mug out carefully to protect it—and relaxed, but then immediately stiffened. "What's that smell?" he asked, scenting the air.

"Oh, our neighbor pack are just coming out of their heat, and sometimes puffs of it come under our shared door—that's Natasha's pack, she's my partner on missions that I mentioned before? She's basically like my sister, or as close as someone could get to that, although I probably hang out with her mate Darcy more often," Clint chatted amiably while he worked, not really paying attention.

A quiet, "Wanda?" interrupted his work though, drawing his eyes to the living room. Pietro was sitting on the couch still, but was leaning forward, and Clint could read the tension in his body even from the kitchen. Belatedly, Clint remembered that Darcy's residual heat-scent was so strong that Phil hadn't been able to sit too near her, and he swore softly, dropping the vegetables he was holding and hurrying over to the twins.

Wanda was standing stock still, sniffing in the air loudly and obviously, and she growled softly. Clint stopped in his tracks, hearing the threat in that growl. The woman lowered herself into a crouch and started sniffing towards the easy chair—the same one that Darcy had just been sitting in that morning.

"Wanda, I don't-" Clint started to say, but then stopped abruptly when Wanda pressed her face into the back of the chair and growled loudly, possessively. Barton swore again. Still growling occasionally, Wanda sniffed the air and started approaching the door to Natasha's pack quarters, and Clint stepped forward, intending to warn her off.

Suddenly Pietro zipped to Clint's side, planting himself directly in front of Clint and blocking the archer's path, but facing his sister, who was growling increasingly loudly. Clint knew that if Wanda tried to breach Natasha's pack territory as a stranger, while Darcy was in heat no less, that there would be blood, and he gripped Pietro's shoulder urgently. The omega didn't move however, keeping his feet planted and his attention on Wanda.

Wanda reached the door and growled loudly, clearly issuing a challenge. An answering growl was heard from the other side of the door, loud and fierce, a deadly warning, although Clint could tell from the timber that it was probably an omega, so either Skye or Darcy. He was only briefly thankful for the fact that it wasn't Maria or Natasha, but then all other thoughts flew out the window when Wanda abruptly opened the door to the other pack's apartment.

Standing in the middle of the room on the other side of the door was Skye, her stance aggressive and unwelcoming, and the omega growled again in clear warning to get the fuck out—and knowing Skye, Clint thought that's probably what she would have said, had she been able to do anything other than growl right in that moment. Wanda, surprisingly, growled again but more insistent than challenging, and the alpha dropped to her knees on the floor. Natasha and Maria appeared from the back rooms both growling, but neither Skye or Wanda paid any attention to them, staring fixedly at each other for a few moments. Still kneeling, Wanda reached forward with one hand and deliberately placed it on the other side of the threshold, breaching the pack territory, and Clint held his breath.

Skye snarled but didn't immediately attack, and Natasha and Maria seemed to be staying back and allowing Skye to determine what level of response was required for this threat. Instead of attacking, Skye took two slow paces towards where Wanda was still crouched. She paused there, sniffing the air to catch the intruding alpha's scent, and then growled again, but lower and less threatening. Wanda, emboldened by the reduced threat, deliberately placed another hand in the other apartment. The answering growls from all three women in the other room did not deter her though, and she slowly scooted forward until her whole body was in the other pack's territory, still crouching.

Just then Darcy emerged from the back room, naked as the day she was born and hair tousled—she must have just gotten up from napping in the nest, Clint guessed—blinking around at her pack and taking in the scene. Wanda immediately snapped her attention to the newcomer, a new wave of intoxicating heat-scent laced with sex following the omega into the room and permeating the air—far stronger than the puffs of scent that had come under the door, or when a freshly showered Darcy had visited them earlier. Wanda growled louder, not a threat this time and instead enticing and suggestive. Darcy visibly shivered at the sound, unconsciously tilting her head back slightly and exposing her throat, causing Wanda to twitch where she was still crouched on the floor, as if the alpha newcomer had narrowly resisted moving.

Darcy made a thoughtful humming noise, staring at the alpha on all fours in her pack's territory, and then stalked towards the crouching woman at a slow but deliberate pace, not breaking eye contact with Wanda. All the other women in the room followed Darcy with their eyes, occasionally growling protectively. Wanda growled again as Darcy drew closer, calling to the omega, and Wanda crouched down lower, making herself appear less threatening, although Clint could see that the alpha's entire body remained taut and tense and wholly focused on Darcy.

Darcy hummed again, the sound becoming more like a purr, and stopped just in front of Wanda, the alpha still crouching low but occasionally twitching. Darcy reached a hand out slowly, inching forward, until she touched Wanda's cheek in a caress. Wanda immediately turn her face into Darcy's touch, pressing her nose into Darcy's wrist and growling again. Darcy smiled and started pulling the alpha further into the room and out of the doorway, stepping backwards. Wanda seemed to notice nothing else except the omega's hand against her skin, which she was sniffing and mouthing intently, the alpha's limbs automatically carrying her forward to follow the omega.

As soon as Wanda was a meter or two beyond the door, Pietro sped over to the door using his superspeed powers, and closed the door firmly, sagging against the surface as soon as it was shut. Clint hurried over to him. "Pietro? Are you okay?" he asked in concern.

Pietro shook his head to clear it, and then turned to Clint—and Barton could see that the omega's eyes were fully dilated and that Pietro was breathing heavier than normal. "I just didn't want to keep the door open any longer—that heat-scent is _strong_ ," he said, trying to calm down.

Clint chuckled, and urged Pietro over to one of the guest rooms that had been closed up during the whole ordeal so probably had cleaner air to breathe in. "You should have smelled it when her heat was just ramping up, because this is significantly better than it used to be," he said, panting and not unaffected by the exposure to their neighbor pack's heat-scent.

Pietro made a soft sound of incredulity, and let Barton guide him to the bed in the guest room, closing the door behind them. Clint asked JARVIS to initiate the de-scenting process for the rest of their apartment, and Pietro was momentarily distracted by the AI, asking questions about it. While the agent and JARVIS answered the omega's questions, Clint heard a noise in the rest of the apartment that was out of place and immediately caught his attention, and then he heard a growl—Phil's growl. Barton jumped up to fling the door open.

"Baby?" he said—a pet name that he never used, but right in that moment he was trying to subtly remind Phil that Clint was his mate. "Honey?" he asked again, advancing slowly towards the alpha.

Coulson turned and sniffed at Barton, and stepped towards the archer to rub his head and cheek against Clint's in instinctual greeting, but then Phil growled again and advanced on the living room, where the heat-scent was strongest. Coulson hadn't had that much trouble when Darcy visited earlier, but that had been after she'd had a shower and hadn't had sex for at least a couple hours. This was _significantly_ stronger, and Phil seemed almost completely lost to the presence of those scents in the apartment. Clint tried to pull him backwards to keep him away from the stronger concentrations, but Phil was determined, gradually both of them getting closer. Then suddenly Pietro zipped ahead of both of the men, placing himself directly between Coulson and the couch.

Phil snarled in surprise at the sudden appearance of the man, and advanced forward quickly to challenge this newcomer. A couple steps away the alpha jerked to a halt and began sniffing the air, catching the mate-scent coming from Pietro. The omega held himself perfectly still as Phil stepped into Pietro's personal space, sniffing up and down the newcomer's body. Pietro made a soft noise and exposed his neck and throat when Phil started sniffing up the omega's chest.

Then Phil stepped closer and wrapped the omega in his arms, pressing his cheek into the side of Pietro's head and growling possessively. Pietro gasped and his hands fisted into Phil's jacket when Coulson pressed his open mouth to Pietro's neck. Phil pressed the omega firmly but gently backwards until they dropped into a controlled fall onto the couch, Pietro under a softly growling Phil.

Clint had wanted to stay back and let Phil get acquainted with Pietro's mate-scent, but now Clint was worrying about Pietro and whether he actually wanted to go where Phil most definitely indicated he wanted to go right now—after all, they had only just met mere seconds ago. Not to mention that the twin was probably tired and worn out after having to go through the pre-release check at SHIELD HQ. Barton approached the two on the couch, but was unsuccessfully in distracting Phil, who seemed to be at least a little heat-scent crazed and entirely focused on the omega in his arms.

Pietro made eye contact with Clint over Coulson's shoulder, shaking his head and saying, "It's fine."

Pietro sucked his breath in sharply when Phil start nipping the omega's neck, letting out a moan. Phil bit down harder, and Pietro made a mewling noise and arched into the man above him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I disliked that Pietro was always the one protecting Wanda in the movies and it never happened the other way around (even though Wanda is arguably the more powerful of the pair), so I had to write Wanda being suspicious of Clint and protective of her brother, even if not for very long. Maybe I'll have her giving Clint the shovel talk later, that might be fun :}


	27. Rocking the boat- er, nest (smut)

The next two days were a bit of a blur for Wanda Maximoff, but not always in a good way. Darcy was thrilled to have Wanda's company, but she was still high on her heat—the other mates, not so much. Wanda knew that breaching the pack's space while one mate was in heat would be trouble, had known it before she'd opened that door, but as soon as Darcy's heat-scent hit Wanda's nose, she couldn't ignore it. It was like she was going to explode if she didn't find her mate that was in heat, like a physiological imperative—and Wanda had not been able to resist.

The heat-scent affected Darcy's other mates as well, and at the same time that it was making Wanda unable to withdraw, it made them unable to countenance an intrusion in their territory, even for another potential mate. Wanda's entry into the equation had made everyone who wasn't Darcy on edge and aggressive, except for when Darcy was awake to keep the peace—the promise of sexual activity and all the good pheromones that activity generated made everyone feel much better about the stranger. Outside of that time, Wanda had needed to stay in another part of the apartment so she wouldn't start fights.

Now that Darcy's heat had faded to a more controllable level, her other mates were able to hold conversations that weren't all growling, but Wanda was still in a bit of a tight spot. There were going to be questions, probably very pointed ones, and Wanda was pretty sure that no one in the pack except Darcy wanted Wanda there at the moment, even though all of them smelled like mates.

Wanda sighed and got up from the bed in the guest bedroom that she'd claimed in the pack apartment. She could smell breakfast cooking, and that probably meant either Maria or Natasha was up—those two seemed to be the ones making sure the others stayed fed. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped out. As she'd expected, the eyes of every other person in the room immediately landed on her. Wanda ducked her head self-consciously and brushed her hair behind an ear, before slowly walking over towards the island where they were obviously setting up breakfast.

Clearing her throat in preparation to say something, maybe a groveling apology, if she could manage to get the words right in her head, Wanda was cut off before she had a chance to start by Darcy's entrance. The tension in the room instantly dropped several notches. Darcy was positively glowing with contentment as she waltzed over to the island and dropped onto a stool with a sigh. Skye was sitting closest to her, and her mouth curled upwards into a smile.

"Someone looks happy," Skye said, smiling even wider, and climbed up into Darcy's lap where she proceeded to kiss the other omega enthusiastically.

Darcy laughed, half into Skye's mouth, and said, "I thought you were all worn out."

"I'm never too tired to wriggle in your lap and kiss you," Skye retorted, suiting words to actions and kissing Darcy passionately.

Darcy hummed in pleasure. "If you keep that up we're going to need to take this back to the nest," she said in a sultry voice.

"Hey hey, no sex at breakfast time," Maria said, only partly joking, waving a spatula in the omegas' general direction and turning off the stove.

"We could have breakfast later," Darcy suggested, sounding a little breathless, as Skye attacked her ear and neck with open-mouthed kisses.

"Nope, too late!" Maria said quickly, scooping up the egg, bacon and cheese scramble onto the plates on the table. Natasha walked up with the bowl of cut fruit, setting it in the center of the table before going up to Skye and bodily lifting her off Darcy.

"No fair, I wasn't finished eating that," Skye quipped.

Wanda laughed at her antics, but suddenly everyone turned their heads to look at her, remembering that she was there. Ducking her head and flushing, Wanda said, "Sorry."

Skye eyed Wanda for a moment and then wriggled out of Natasha's grasp. Once freed, she walked over to where Wanda was sitting and gave her an intense and piercing stare, her gaze searching for something. Then Skye's expression shifted to something else, and stepped into Wanda's personal space to say in a low voice, "You know, _my_ heat starts in about a month." With the last word, she nuzzled against Wanda's cheek, pressing her body against Wanda's.

" _Fuck_ ," Wanda swore, dropping her fork in surprise.

"Yup," Skye said, still nuzzling. "There's gonna be a lot of that."

Maria gave Skye a searching look. "You're not going into your heat already, are you?" she asked, sounding slightly concerned.

Skye lifted her head up, which gave Wanda a moment to catch her breath, and appeared to consider the question. Then she shrugged with one shoulder. "I dunno—this doesn't feel like heat. It's possible it'll come sooner." While she was talking, Skye idly ran a hand through Wanda's hair, and Wanda's eyes closed automatically as she hummed in contentment.

At Skye's giggle, Wanda opened her eyes again and found everyone else staring at her with varying degrees of amusement. "What?" Wanda asked. "I have a thing about my hair, okay?" Skye giggled again and went back to playing with Wanda's hair.

Natasha said firmly, though her eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement, "Skye, let the poor alpha eat her breakfast, or she won't have enough energy to have sex with you later."

Skye huffed, but she got up from where she'd been sitting in Wanda's lap—when that had happened Wanda didn't know, because the new alpha couldn't remember Skye sitting down in her lap—and went over to her own seat.

"What?" Wanda said in a slightly offended tone after a moment of surprise, finally processing what Natasha had said. "I'm certainly able to perform in bed even without eating this right now." Natasha shot Wanda a warning look, and Wanda immediately backtracked, adding quickly, "I mean, of course eating well helps maintain stamina, so we should all have a good breakfast." Natasha gave Wanda a surreptitious nod, approving her quick save, and Wanda exhaled silently in relief.

The rest of the breakfast passed normally, and the icy shoulders of her three non-Darcy mates thawed a bit towards Wanda, although the alpha could tell that they still had reservations. Wanda would have to keep working at that, and try to gain their trust. She never would regret her actions, nor would she have done anything differently two days ago when she'd stumbled across Darcy's scent, but there were several times where Wanda wished that SHIELD could have found her and Pietro a week or two earlier.

Maria and Natasha each had to go into work today, their heat leave sadly over—Skye and Darcy had a couple more days yet, since them being at work would be a distraction right now. Before Maria and Natasha left for work though, they each gave Wanda similarly inscrutable but piercing stares.

Wanda held up her hands, palms outward. "I would never do anything to harm either of them—you know that—and I will aggressively defend your pack's space from any intruders except Clint's pack." The two seemed to be appeased by this, but still checked in with Skye and Darcy before they left.

They had already spoken about why Wanda had come into their apartment through Clint's, so Wanda had had to explain that her brother was Clint's mate. Darcy had seemed thrilled at that, and had wanted to go over to meet them, and only all four mates convincing her to wait in unison stopped her. Something told Wanda to expect that Darcy would always be trouble like that.

Once Natasha and Maria had left, Darcy insisted that everyone come to the couch for TV marathons and cuddles. Skye seemed to be shifting the whole time she was on the couch though, until Wanda suggested that Skye go take a hot bath to relax. Skye brightened at this idea, and grabbed Wanda's hand to drag her along, insisting that she come see their awesome huge bathtub. However, once they were next to the nest closet, Skye pushed Wanda against the door and kissed her soundly, making the alpha's arousal spike. Skye opened up the door with one hand, never stopping her attentions to Wanda, and laid her down on the floor in the middle of the nest. The scents there immediately made Wanda shift, and she started biting at Skye's neck. After they'd shed their clothes and Wanda was entering Skye, Darcy came in the nest too, closing the door behind her.

====

Natasha could tell exactly what the three had been doing as soon as she came home, although the scattered dishes in the kitchen told her that at least they had bothered to take a break to eat lunch. Sighing, Natasha guessed that it might be better if they got takeout for dinner tonight, especially since she and Maria would probably be tired tonight.

> Nat: they're at it again
> 
> Maria: Sweet Jesus.  
>  Maria: I'm exhausted and I'm still not even home yet.
> 
> Nat: if you're getting off at a reasonable time, grab some takeout  
>  Nat: I think we're gonna need it
> 
> Maria: Roger that. Send me requests.

Natasha went into the back to see if anyone had any requests, and found all three tangled together passed out in the nest. At least this time they'd managed to close the nest door first, which helped keep the heat-scent from escaping out of the apartment. It wasn't as strong anymore, but it was still lingering.

> Nat: they're all out cold  
>  Nat: how do you feel about Thai
> 
> Maria: Figures.  
>  Maria: That works for me.  
>  Maria: I should be off in an hour.
> 
> Nat: that's pretty early for you  
>  Nat: did you have to bribe fury to get that
> 
> Maria: Nope, I just walked into his office and stared at him.
> 
> Nat: well don't remind him we'll need a repeat in a month then
> 
> Maria: Oh my god, I completely forgot about that. Fuck.
> 
> Nat: yes, and lots of it
> 
> Maria: Stop it. Director Fury's going to be so pissed off.
> 
> Nat: wait till tomorrow to tell him so he can't rescind your early clockout time

By the time she finished her back and forth chat with Maria, Natasha was feeling the effects of being in an enclosed space with a post-heat omega. Natasha went back to the nest and peeked inside, finding none of her three mates had moved. Setting her phone nearby just in case Maria messaged back and needed something, Natasha went over to lay down next to Darcy, slowly waking her up with gentle caresses and kisses. Wanda was still buried and probably knotted inside Skye, judging from their position, and looked like Skye had had her strap-on inside Darcy, but they had rolled away from each other, leaving Darcy further off to the side.

Darcy started making moaning noises and gradually woke up, opening her eyes when Natasha reached the omega's breasts. With eager kisses, Natasha explored Darcy's chest and then zeroed in on one of her nipples, sucking it into her mouth and grazing her teeth on it, which she knew from experience drove Darcy wild. As expected, Darcy threaded her fingers into Natasha's hair and held her head firmly in place, moaning more loudly now and pushing her chest up into Natasha's mouth. Normally Natasha would have had a strap-on for this, so she could tend her omega both top and bottom, but she didn't want to take the strap-on from Skye and potentially wake her or Wanda up, and she didn't feel like hunting another one down. Instead, Natasha trailed one hand down Darcy's stomach until she felt pubic hair.

The omega pulled Natasha harder down against her body, lifting her hips up in a silent request for Natasha's fingers. The former assassin obliged, stroking down to Darcy's labia with seeking fingers, finding Darcy's nub with a thumb and pressing firmly. Darcy arched under her with a cry, and Natasha started pressing into Darcy with one finger, quickly adding in another when Darcy's cries started increasing rapidly in pitch.

Natasha loved the fact that Darcy was so close basically all the time in her heat, and made it a game to see how many times she could get her mate to orgasm. She'd made the mistake of telling Skye about this game, and so Skye had been trying to keep up with her—JARVIS actually ended up being an unexpected help by keeping score for them. Honestly from Natasha's perspective, anyone making Darcy orgasm was a winner and didn't care about the score so much, despite Natasha's normally competitive nature. If Skye was enjoying the competition though, Natasha couldn't really say it was a bad thing, and went along with it.

Soon her skilled fingers had Darcy writhing underneath her, clearly right on the edge, so Natasha helped her mate stay there a little longer, drawing out the climax. Just as Darcy started making what Natasha thought of as the omega's "make me come now" movements, pulling Natasha's head harder against her chest, Natasha went for the finisher, pushing another finger inside Darcy and sucking hard on Darcy's nipple. The omega came loudly, and Natasha could hear the others moving about now—Darcy coming would wake up anyone—but the spy ignored them, focusing on riding Darcy's orgasm out as long as possible.

Finally Darcy quieted, and Natasha stopped her ministrations, letting the omega rest. She let go of Darcy's nipple, and gave some attention to its sister, but gently, before Natasha trailed kisses down Darcy's abdomen. The omega was starting to make noises again as Natasha dipped teasingly lower. Skye then decided to help out, coming up to kiss Darcy's chest, and latching onto the nipple that Natasha had been neglecting. Darcy laced the fingers of one hand into Skye's hair, then with the other felt around blindly until she found Natasha's teasing head. The spy laughed when Darcy firmly pushed Natasha lower, and kissed her way down to Darcy's now thoroughly wet lower lips.

The Russian then felt a hand caressing up and down her bare back, and realizing it was Wanda, she automatically growled a little in warning. She still didn't feel comfortable around the alpha, her protective instincts still on guard against Wanda for coming into their territory. The hand caressed more gently but didn't remove itself, and Darcy urged Natasha to put her mouth to a different use by canting her hips upwards, giving Natasha easier access. Distracted by the omega, Natasha kissed into Darcy's labia, running her tongue through Darcy's folds. One of Skye's hands reached down and began massaging Darcy's clit in time to Natasha's licking. Darcy made a frustrated sound at the lack of increased pressure, and pushed herself against Natasha's face, so Natasha dove in. Darcy made a pleased sound and began rocking against Natasha's face.

Wanda started kissing Natasha's back around this time, and Natasha found that she didn't really feel like growling, so taken was she by the sounds and taste of Darcy. She could tell Darcy was getting closer. A warm body and breasts were pressed up against Natasha's back, and Wanda moaned, surprisingly close to Natasha's neck. Natasha arched a little and moaned involuntarily, feeling her body heat up even more. She still didn't really feel like telling the alpha to back off, and Darcy's hold in her hair urged her to continue licking and sucking. Wanda's hands pushed Natasha's hair out of the way, and started caressing Natasha's neck with her hands while the alpha rubbed her body rhythmically against Natasha's, matching Darcy's pace in Natasha's mouth.

Against her own better judgement, Natasha started moaning, the sound mostly lost in Darcy's core, and Darcy seemed to really like that, pressing harder and a little faster into Natasha's mouth. Wanda increased her pace to match, and started alternately growling and moaning into Natasha's upper back. Darcy was nearing climax now, her motions getting a little more uncoordinated, and Natasha kept her pace firm and insistent, holding onto Darcy's legs and hips tightly. Skye must have done something, or maybe it was Natasha's increased moans, but Darcy suddenly crashed over the edge into orgasm. All four women were moaning and rocking as Natasha helped Darcy through it.

When Natasha finally lifted her head up, she found herself incredibly aroused by Darcy's climax and the alpha still rubbing against her back. Skye took over from Natasha, scooting Darcy over to the side so she could get her strap-on in position. Between the shifting of limbs and bodies, Natasha found herself completely underneath Wanda, who was now nosing at her neck. Natasha rumbled in warning again, and attempted to turn around to glare at the alpha, when Wanda nuzzled into the side of her neck and licked it. Natasha arched and tilted her head automatically, her arousal momentarily overriding her desire to glare at the alpha. As soon as she realized what she was doing, Natasha rumbled again, although the sound lacked the threat that it had had before.

Natasha could see both Darcy and Skye getting more aroused just watching the beta, and their movements and attention ratcheted Natasha's arousal even higher. Wanda growled softly and nipped Natasha's shoulder, causing the spy to gasp and momentarily cant her hips up into a presentation. Natasha huffed in response, slightly annoyed and not liking being played so easily. Wanda's hands started making soothing motions against Natasha's breasts, and Wanda's body rubbing against hers became more slow and comforting, rather than how demanding she had been before. The change took Natasha by surprise, and after a few moments, she was moaning again.

One of Wanda's hands caressed its way gently down to Natasha's hips, where it squeezed slightly. Natasha moaned loudly again, opening her legs slightly. Wanda continued her tender ministrations over the beta's body, kneading Natasha's breasts and then caressing the rest of her body before returning to her breasts. Gradually, Natasha found herself growing more comfortable with the newest pack alpha's attentions and let herself relax into her increasing arousal, rubbing her chest down against Wanda's hand. Wanda's knees urged Natasha's legs wider, and then after a few nudges of something hard and hot against her inner thigh, the spy tilted her hips up and back in invitation, and Natasha felt the alpha entering her. She simultaneously moaned and growled, and Wanda's hands and mouth grew more insistent as the alpha continued kissing up Natasha's back. The spy heard moans coming louder from Skye and Darcy, drawing her eyes, and the two omega's hungry gazes fixed on Natasha made the beta cry out and arch herself into Wanda.

Wanda growled her approval and pumped herself inside with smooth, even thrusts. Natasha moaned again, higher pitch than before, and suddenly she found both Skye's and Darcy's hands touching and caressing her face, arms, shoulder. The alpha moved both her hands down to Natasha's hips and squeezed, increasing her pace. The combined stimulation made Natasha's head spin, and she could feel herself rapidly approaching climax. The alpha was deep inside her now, thrusting harder, and then Wanda's teeth found the side of Natasha's neck, and bit down, holding Natasha firmly as Wanda's thrusts became deeper and more forceful.

Natasha tried to hold off the impending orgasm, her hands fisting in the nest bedding, but Skye's and Darcy's increased cries made it clear they were nearing orgasm to, and that only pushed Natasha closer herself. Wanda was bottoming out inside Natasha, pushing deep at the end of each thrust, and the beta honestly didn't know how much longer she could hold out. The spy was no longer in control of what the rest of her body was doing or the noises she was making, the intensity of her arousal and the alpha's hands drowning everything else out, and distantly she heard Darcy cry out, "Oh god oh god, she's gonna come, oh god I'm gonna ... I'm-"

Darcy came with a loud cry, and Natasha was dimly aware of Skye thrusting hard into the other omega. Natasha cried out as well and was pushed right up to the edge, making incoherent noises and gasps. Wanda growled loudly and pressed Natasha's body down hard under her, thrusting with wild abandon into the beta, and suddenly Natasha couldn't hold back anymore and toppled over the edge. She could hear Skye crying out as well, and the alpha thrusting inside Natasha started to feel tighter. Feeling the knot start, Wanda thrust hard and deep into Natasha, intending to work the knot fully inside, and the sensation of being knotted quickly sent Natasha into a second orgasm. Still crying out and twitching, Natasha pressed herself hard backwards onto the alpha inside her, and then she blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, Chpt 27 already?? There are only about 2-3 more chapters of material already written before I have to go binge-write again. Also, since I have a habit of not replying to comments, let me just say here thank you to everyone for your support, I read everything and your comments and kudos make me smile :)


	28. Small Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter feels unfinished/directionless and that bothers me a little, and I'm not really sure where I want to go with this (or even where I was trying to go with it). Instead of throwing the entire thing out though, I think it's finished enough to post like a little bonus or aside, with extra exposition/gratuitous interaction for the characters. It's not serious plot-wise and can be skipped if you don't really like it.  
> ======

At some point Natasha stirred when Darcy and Skye tried to get her attention, saying something about the food being there, but Natasha was still wrapped in warmth and the glow of post-orgasm bliss, and she didn't really want to move. Darcy and Skye left her there to her bliss, and Natasha probably dozed for a bit. When the warmth lifted off of her, Natasha grumbled, and tried to pull it back down on top of her with one hand, then she heard someone chuckle. A blanket was wrapped around her, and strong arms lifted her up. She was jostled a little but ultimately ended up curled in those strong arms on the couch. Natasha's nose twitched when the smell of food started to invade her senses, but otherwise she stayed curled up in her warm post-coital haze. Eventually the haze lessened and Natasha noticed more of the conversation around her.

"Well, it _was_ a really good orgasm." That was Darcy.

Skye's voice corrected, "Two really good orgasms, if I'm any judge."

The warmth around Natasha shook with soft laughter. "Yeah, it was two." Wanda, the spy finally recognizing the voice. That meant Natasha was in Wanda's lap.

Natasha blearily opened her eyes a peered around, until her eyes landed on the face of the alpha in question, whose lap Natasha appeared to be sitting in. In fact, the beta noticed after wriggling a bit, Wanda was still knotted inside Natasha, although the spy had been turned a little so she was sitting slightly sideways in Wanda's lap. The spy's movement made Wanda make an indecent noise and press up firmly into Natasha, twitching inside her.

"Are you still squirting in me?" Natasha asked Wanda, squinting at her with only one eye open, frowning at all the noise and light and food smells, which were rather overwhelming.

"Um," Wanda said, and she pressed firmly into Natasha again, shuddering. "Yeah?"

Natasha made a noncommittal noise and turned away from the alpha she didn't really feel like being angry at anymore, and towards the others. Skye and Darcy were smiling at her with unabashed amusement, and Maria was frowning at the other alpha, like she wanted to pluck Natasha away from Wanda. Not that that would be possible while Wanda was still knotted inside Natasha.

"Is that the Thai takeout you were bringing back?" Natasha asked, directing her question partly to Maria.

Darcy answered happily, "Sure is, we've got a whole bunch of choices, because apparently Maria didn't want to make breakfast tomorrow either." Darcy dug into the bag and started pulling out more boxes.

"That's not true," Maria said with a frown. "I just didn't know what any of you wanted, so I just got a bit of everything. And it's not like Thai food is ever allowed to go bad in this pack." She finished with an eyeroll at the two omegas, who were showing Natasha the available choices.

Skye sniffed primly. "I dislike that you have described our tastes in food so accurately with that statement." She and Darcy spoiled the effect somewhat by immediately giggling afterward.

Natasha dug into her box of noodles, when she noticed that Wanda wasn't eating. "Why aren't you eating?" Natasha asked, frowning at the alpha under her.

Wanda shrugged. "My hands are a little occupied right now, and also it feels kinda weird when I'm eating while still ... uhh, coming a little."

Natasha frowned harder at the alpha, considering this, before making a disgruntled sound and holding up some noodles to Wanda's mouth. Wanda's eyes darted between Natasha and the bit of food held between her chopsticks. "I don't care if you're still coming," Natasha said in her no-nonsense voice, "you have to eat."

Wanda accepted the food with a slight blush. Natasha squirmed a little until she was facing the alpha more, to make it more comfortable to feed her—making both herself and Wanda gasp a little when they jarred the alpha's knot and made her squirt a little more. Natasha alternated bites between herself and the alpha, unaccountably finding herself blushing as much as Wanda did. Something about seeing the alpha eat from her hands—well, chopsticks—was very pleasant. And besides, everybody needed to eat. The two blew through the container fairly quickly and Darcy grabbed another to give to them, looking smug as she did so, despite Natasha giving her a warning look.

Natasha rolled her eyes and went back to feeding their newest mate, able to admit to herself that she'd now gotten over her anger at Wanda's invasion of the sanctity of their pack territory during Darcy's heat.

====

The next morning, everyone but Darcy had needed to go into work. Wanda was still allowed to stay with her since she didn't really have a job yet, having just been released by SHIELD to the Avengers and then promptly finding her in-heat mate to participate in said heat. Not that Wanda was complaining—she could stay around Darcy all the time, and she would gladly do so if given half the chance.

Which was why, that morning after everyone had left, the two women were sitting on the couch going over Darcy and JARVIS' hastily put together 'So You Want To Be An Avenger' packet—largely written under the impetus of Darcy's boredom while she was waiting for her mates to wake up again or get off work. Darcy was actually pretty glad that she would be going into work again, after having been on vacation so long—but the young omega's planned return to work had Wanda preparing to get some SHIELD training and start working on Avengers things with Steve, the Avengers' defacto Captain.

Wanda was sitting on the couch and enjoying being around Darcy's scent, even if her scent was a lot less strong or alluring now that her heat was pretty much over. She shifted slightly closer to her mate to grab a different paper, and then Wanda noticed that Darcy's scent seemed different. Turning to look at the omega sitting next to her, Wanda frowned, scenting the air, and then leaned forward to sniff at Darcy.

"Stop it," Darcy said, waving her hand halfheartedly without looking at the alpha. "We're supposed to at least pretend like we're working today. You can have more sex when we're at least past the amazing intro I wrote—I worked hard on that, you know."

Darcy smelled ... different. Alpha-y even. "Did you rub up against Maria this morning? Or have her scent mark you?" Wanda asked as she continued sniffing the other woman.

Darcy didn't seem to understand at first, but finally turned to look at her new mate in confusion. "Um, no?"

"Because you smell like alpha," Wanda said, sniffing at Darcy's neck again.

"Ohhhh," Darcy said softly, stiffening in realization. "I know what it is." Without any further explanation, she hopped off the couch and went into the bedroom, leaving a mystified Wanda behind. Before Wanda could decide if she needed to get up and go follow Darcy to see what was going on, Darcy reappeared carrying a bottle of supplements. Wanda had seen the brand before, but had never really used them—they were just a multivitamin that was supposedly marketed to alphas, even though none of the vitamins were actually better for alphas specifically in any measurable way that Wanda knew of. At least they weren't actively bad though, and the vitamins were good in general.

"This is why," Darcy said seriously, her mood much different from her previous joking remarks that morning about the Avengers and joining them.

Wanda looked at her mate, confused. "You take alpha multivitamins?" she asked uncomprehendingly.

Darcy shook her head, and opened the bottle to hold out one of the pills to be sniffed—Wanda did so, instantly recoiling at the strong and unpleasant odor. "It's not a multivitamin—the bottle is just a cover. It's actually a supplement that acts as a natural suppressant and scent modifier that I've been hiding in this bottle." She briefly described what it was and how it worked, then paused to let the information sink in. "To everyone outside our pack and Clint's, Darcy Lewis is a stereotypical alpha."

Wanda sat there staring at Darcy, with no idea what to say.

"Even SHIELD or the other Avengers don't know what I am, although I think some may now suspect that something isn't quite what they thought it was when they see Skye, the only omega in our pack that they know of, going back to work and me still staying at home. I've been keeping my status secret for decades—since before I presented officially."

"How can you hide your status _before_ you present?" Wanda asked in surprise.

"I knew I was probably going to be omega—there are always signs, and the parents of a child can usually tell before they present—but I also knew that I wanted to be an alpha, so I started learning all the information I could about alphas. When teachers at school would talk about alpha-typical behavior, I always made sure to follow exactly what they said. Adults I was around always called me an 'early presenter'. When I was old enough to figure out how to use the internet, I went online and searched for ways an omega or beta could pretend to be an alpha, and that's how I figured out about this trick." Darcy hefted the bottle. "By the way, you should never take one of these—the plant these supplements are extracted from make alphas smell absolutely terrible. Maria accidentally took one once and I had to make her throw it up."

Wanda shook her head, following along but only barely. "Did she know what they were?"

"No—although it was Natasha who pulled them out, having seen me take them every morning for as long as she'd known me. She wanted to make sure both her alphas were taken care of."

"But ... why, Darcy? Why did you need to be alpha?"

Darcy's face went totally and completely blank—on such an animated person as Darcy, Wanda found the change terrifying. When Darcy spoke again, her voice sounded distant and emotionless.

"I ... omegas can't protect themselves, and alphas can," she said, her expressionless demeanor scaring Wanda.

"Darcy," Wanda said urgently, pulling the omega into her arms and holding her as close as she could without hurting her. She didn't know what terrible things had happened to Darcy, but all Wanda knew was that she wanted to make everything better for her. Wanda definitely noticed that Darcy smelled more like an alpha now.

"Did you take that pill today?" Wanda asked, trying to see if talking would help.

Darcy nodded her head, her hair swaying against Wanda's cheek. "I started up again yesterday. I had stopped taking it about a week ago, so I could have a heat, my first heat, and now I'm going back again."

Wanda pulled back to stare at her mate in surprise. "Darcy, you'd never had a heat before this?"

"Nope, never—I've always been 100% alpha all the time before this, but I heard that for long-time users a heat will come on suddenly when they stop taking it." A smile flitted across Darcy's face then, for the first time since they'd been talking about her passing as an alpha most of her life. "And then Skye started telling me about how amazing she thought heats were, and how I should try one, at least once." She was smiling more by the end, and Wanda could tell that it was talking about Skye that was doing it.

Seeing Darcy smiling again made Wanda relax slightly, and she caressed Darcy's cheek with one hand. "And now you want to go back to being an alpha?" she asked gently.

Darcy's eyes dropped and she nodded.

"Hey, sweetie," Wanda said softly, coaxing Darcy's chin back up with a finger, "you can be whatever you want to be and we'll still all love you."

Darcy gave her a watery smile and sniffed. Pulling herself together a little, Darcy said, "Natasha is having me go to therapy sessions." Darcy paused, then looked up into Wanda's eyes. "You could come to them. It's nice to have my pack there, and then ... then I don't have to talk about it more than once."

Wanda nodded. This was something that was definitely within her power, and she wanted to do whatever she could to help her mate. "I'll be there," Wanda said seriously.

Darcy gave her a full smile, finally seeming more like her normal self.


	29. The Doctor is In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's ready for some Jemma? :D

Maria came into the office feeling pretty good. Sure, SHIELD as an organization was in shambles and had a serious PR nightmare that they were still dealing with, and there were still dozens of agents that had to be reviewed for Hydra activity. But in her personal life, Maria Hill was doing great. Better than great, even.

She had a record-breaking four mates, and it felt like the newest one was starting to fit in nicely, now that they'd gotten over their rough start. After sitting down and talking to Wanda, Hill could be a big girl and admit that she probably would have done exactly the same thing if she'd smelled a mate in heat—for instance, if that had been the first way she'd met Darcy. Hell, even with knowing that Darcy seemed to fear her for some reason the first time they'd met, Maria probably wouldn't have been able to stay away if she had smelled Darcy's heat while they were still getting to know one another, and Natasha probably would have (understandably) tried to fight her on it. The former Russian assassin in fact _had_ fought her on it a little, even threateningly pushed her against a wall in her own office. So Hill could understand where Wanda was coming from.

But now things were better. Darcy was better, although she still wanted to go back to presenting as an alpha and still had some unaddressed trauma in her past that she needed to work through. Overall though, Darcy was obviously doing much better than before, and seemed to feel much more at home in her own skin, as opposed to before when it was all an act thrown up as a defense. Maria would have never known, except for seeing the difference between now-Darcy and past-Darcy. The young intern deflected less now, and was much more open about what she really felt—and most importantly, she was much more open about allowing help from other people.

So in all, Maria was doing pretty good, and she was humming to herself tunelessly as she caught up on some of the new recruits, training updates, and transfers. Some of the other agents and SHIELD administrators gave her funny looks as she walked through the building on her tasks, but Hill didn't care that much what they thought of her—she'd just gotten back from what was basically a five-day sex bender. Maria was doing _great_.

Which was why it surprised Hill a little bit later, when she was walking through the interview halls, and smelled something she had not been expecting to ever encounter again—mate-scent from a new person. It was faint enough that Maria couldn't tell the potential mate's status, or even why their scent was in the middle of a hallway. Maybe the mate had been sitting here? Hill looked around to make sure no one was watching her too closely, and then sniffed over the hallway, paying attention to the chairs lining the wall. None of them smelled strongly of mate-scent though.

Maria knew these rooms were used for interviewing new recruits to SHIELD, or sometimes for interviews of non-hostile sources. She was abusing her position slightly, but she used her assistant director accesses to pull up the list of recently interviewed people, and checked to see who had been interviewed within the last twenty-four hours. That scent was faint, and there was no way it could be older than a day, and was most likely only a few hours old. As Hill went about her other tasks, she made it a point to just _happen_ to drop in on some of the interviewees that she'd pulled up in her search. None of them were the mystery mate. Eventually Maria was forced to admit that she just didn't have enough information to track this new mystery person down right now. She had to wait and just hope that the potential mate would turn up again soon.

====

Natasha was coming back from her sparring session and making her way up to Maria's office to see her mate. She was technically on lunch break right now, and after spending so much time in near-constant contact with her mates over the last week, Natasha was feeling a little off after having gone hours without any contact with one of them. Her other mates weren't in the building and Maria was almost always in her office, or at least regularly went in and out of her office all day, so it would be fairly easy to track her down.

Just as Natasha was about to get on the elevator though, something caught the Avenger's nose. She stopped and sniffed the air, wandering around a bit to see where it went, but she couldn't find it again after that first whiff. Shaking her head, she continued on her way to Maria's office. The door opened right away at Natasha's buzzing, and the spy walked right in and dropped herself down on Hill's couch. It wasn't the comfiest couch, but it worked, and it meant that if Maria got up from her chair she and Natasha could sit touching without the Avenger sitting on her lap—Natasha had tried that once and then of course Director Fury had picked that time to drop by. The spy wasn't sure which of the three of them was more uncomfortable in the situation, her, Maria, or Fury, but Natasha wasn't eager to repeat the attempt during daylight hours.

Hill smiled at Natasha once the doors had opened, and it seemed that Maria was having similar mate-withdrawal from the way she looked instantly relieved at the sight of the Black Widow entering her office. When Maria had come over to sit on the couch next to her spy mate, Natasha brought up what she'd found.

"I smelled mate-scent today," Natasha said without preamble. "A new person."

"You too? Where was it?" Maria asked, her eyes widening.

"In front of the main elevator bay, sparring floor."

"I smelled it too, but in the hallway where the interviews are held. I thought it might be a new recruit, but I tracked down all the people who'd used those rooms in the last twenty-four hours whose scent I didn't already know, and none of them were mate-scent."

Natasha hummed in thought. "A new interviewee wouldn't be on the sparring floor. That usually takes at least a week from when they're brought on board to when we decide to see what they can take."

Maria nodded in agreement. They tossed some theories back and forth, but nothing really compelling fell out of it, so they left the idea for now, conceding that they would have to wait for the potential mate to show up again.

====

Dr. Jemma Simmons had not been having a good day. Granted, she hadn't exactly been doing great since her transfer away from Fitz, but today especially was not great. First, the lack of staff at SHIELD HQ had made it so that way she had to make lots of what were essentially house calls, either going to an agent's office or sometimes to their homes or other offsite locations. It wasn't always clear to Dr. Simmons why exactly she had to go to the agent rather than them coming to her—she even had all this fantastic and probably expensive equipment in her lab that she could have used—but in SHIELD the left hand did not often know what the right was doing, and so that left Jemma frequently in the dark.

That wasn't actually even the part of this that was not great, although it had contributed. No, the worst part was that the entire building _smelled_. It wasn't a bad smell either—it was in fact something that smelled absolutely fantastic, a scent that seemed to call to her and draw her in. Unfortunately, the smell was faint and seemed to be uniform all over the building, so Jemma hadn't been able to figure out what it was or even where it might be coming from. It was possible that it could be mate-scent, which would be consistent with what Dr. Simmons had studied, though she'd never personally encountered anything like it before. If it were mate-scent though, the person used to be all over the building—and after finding excuses to go to nearly every part of headquarters, Jemma had concluded that the person was not longer around, if it had even been mate-scent or associated with a person at all.

It was frankly frustrating, and Dr. Simmons had had to put it out of her mind as much as she possibly could so she could do her work, because she found it to be incredibly distracting. She kept catching herself intently sniffing the air or wandering around trying to find any concentrations of the scent. To cap off her frustrating day, one of the newbie agents that she had been tasked with examining had knocked over a beaker and the broken shards had sliced up Jemma's hand. She had of course been away from the medical lab at the time and had only had her emergency kit with her, so she'd had to walk across nearly the entire building with just a few pieces of gauze on her hand, dripping blood, until she could get an adequate bandage for it.

Sighing as one of the other colleagues helped her clean it up—the cut was on her dominant hand, which made treating it by herself awkward at best—Jemma just hoped that now that she could just sit in her lab and run test samples that her day would get better from here. She realized that was not to be though, when behind her the loud growl of an angered alpha rang out through her lab. Dr. Simmons just sighed again, getting up.

====

Maria and Natasha decided to go to the break room and get some coffee before going back to work, needing a pick-me-up after the excitement of a potential new mate and the subsequent letdown of deciding they couldn't find them just yet. Hill stepped through the doorway first and the Avenger nearly ran into the back of her mate when the alpha stopped abruptly right in front of Natasha.

"Maria, wha-" Natasha started to ask, when the alpha's angry growl split the air. Maria darted further into the room where some newbie agents were cleaning up a mess of some kind—it looked to Natasha like something glass had broken—and the spy chased after her. The Black Widow didn't understand what was wrong until she stepped further inside and the smell of a potential mate hit her nose, much stronger than before, along with the smell that had sent Maria straight into angry alpha mode—the scent of that potential mate's blood. The smell was even disturbing to Natasha and made the spy's lip automatically curl up in a snarl, but Hill was growling over the newbie agents so the Avenger had to shake it off to step in and mediate.

"What happened here?" Natasha asked authoritatively, and the agents who were cowering in front of the alpha finally noticed that Agent Romanov was in the room.

One of them, crouching down low with his arms held up in the universal gesture of surrender like the others, glanced quickly between Hill and Natasha, but answered, "Um, one of the doctors cut her hand on some glass, and told us to clean it up since it was our fault it broke."

Maria's growl ratcheted up in threat and the agent whimpered and made himself even smaller.

"Doctor? One of the SHIELD medical doctors, you mean? Do you know their name?" Natasha asked, struggling to keep her tone even.

The man whimpered but nodded, saying, "Dr. Jemma Simmons, she's a new transfer-" The agent cut off with a yelp as Maria moved abruptly, but the alpha was only whirling around to leave the break room at a dead run. Natasha gave them orders to continue their cleanup and ran out of the room after her alpha. Luckily, Hill was not as good at parkour and dodging as she was, and so the spy was able to catch up to the alpha and then keep pace with her as they ran to the medical labs. Maria's nose was better than Natasha's and was able to quickly find the right room, and she burst into it with a loud warning growl.

A couple of the medical personnel scrambled away from her, but Natasha's eyes were drawn across the room to where a woman in a doctor's coat got up from a chair and turned around to look at them. Hill was sniffing the air and scanning, trying to find their mate, but the movement of the doctor standing at the far end of the room had caught the alpha's attention as well, and Maria let out a terrifying growl of challenge at the perpetrator.

The doctor at the far end of the room reached to the side of the counter to pick something up, and Natasha then noticed that one of the woman's hands was bandaged. Stepping up to Hill's shoulder and slightly behind, Natasha tried to get her mate's attention and hopefully calm her down, saying softly, "Maria? Baby?"

The doctor, with little prep or telegraphing of her intentions, turned around smoothly, lifting what turned out to be a tranquilizer dart gun and firing it at Maria. The alpha snarled and attempted to leap forward, but the dart had stuck into her shoulder and Hill promptly dropped to the ground, boneless. The doctor then looked at Natasha with piercing eyes, and the spy immediately lifted up her hands in surrender.

Clearing her throat, Natasha asked in a soft but carrying voice, "Dr. Jemma Simmons, I presume?"

The doctor startled at the question—or perhaps at the sound of Natasha's voice—and stared at the spy for a beat before answering. "Yes, that's correct."

"Agent Natasha Romanov," Natasha said, introducing herself but keeping her arms up. "It's nice to meet you, and my apologies for the uh, less than friendly entrance."

Dr. Simmons lowered the tranq gun, and a few moments later, Natasha carefully lowered her arms. The spy could tell that that particular kind of tranquilizer gun was made for non-agents and so had an automatic aiming system that targeted any warm body roughly in front of the barrel—and that meant that it could probably hit Natasha even if she dodged well, so she made sure to let the doctor know she was no threat before dropping her arms. The rest of the lab was beginning to go back to normal, though everyone was still keeping an eye on Natasha and Dr. Simmons.

Natasha gestured to the unconscious alpha, and cleared her throat, asking, "Do you mind if I take out the tranquilizer dart now?"

"Hm?" Dr. Simmons said, seeming to startle from where she'd been staring fixedly at Natasha, and then realized that the Avenger had asked her a question. "Oh, yes—the darts are designed to inject all the sedating agent within the first few microseconds, so it's already injected all the tranquilizer that it's going to. You might as well take it out of her. It's just a prototype that I've been working on." The doctor set the tranquilizer dart gun back in its holder, and turned back around to watch Natasha. "I take it you know this alpha?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, good news and bad news: the good is that I have the next chpt like 80% written (yay!). The bad news is that I still have 20% more to go and I have been incredibly overworked lately, so I have no idea when I'll be able to get to it (boo). I'm trying for next weekend since there's only a bit left but we'll have to see.
> 
> I pretty much only planned on all of Darcy's mates getting together, so there probably won't be a whole lot more to this fic. I'll probably end it with the next chpt or maybe do one more chpt as the ending. I do want to at some point do a prologue chpt showing everyone interacting in their big happy cuddle pile of love though.
> 
> In any case, stay tuned!


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